Julie and Dan Koerner
“Dealing with the Emotional Consequences of Delayed Answers to Prayer.”
Sunday Morning Message at The Covenant Center - April 7, 2024
Dan: We want to dive right in and look at the incident of the Canaanite woman who approached Jesus for healing of her demon-possessed daughter in Matthew 15:21-28. He ignored her, but she kept shouting, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus finally answered her with another rejection: “I was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Throwing herself at His feet, she cries out, “Lord, help me!” As it were, Jesus says, “Talk to the hand.” Then He says, “It’s not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs,” (another rejection!). Her famous reply, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their master’s table,” was the breakthrough, and Jesus granted her request marveling at her faith. She persisted through at least 3 delays caused by initial rejection. The story drips with raw emotion, but ended with Jesus granting the answer and praising her faith. Not bad! How’d you like Jesus to say the same to you?
There are enough stories in the New Testament (think of Blind Bartimaeus, or Lazarus) to honestly conclude this: Delay is not the end of a prayer matter but is part of the process, and there are direct teachings as well. Look at Luke 18, the parable of the unrighteous judge. The widow persists in coming before him demanding justice against her adversary so often, that he feels that she will bother him and wear him out, so he gives her the justice requested.
Julie: One thing I want to say about God’s justice. We need justice because there is injustice in the world, and sickness is a part of that injustice. It is from the oppression of the enemy. We need to look at it that way, so we can cry out to God for justice. Sickness is from the curse of the law, it is oppression, and we need to look at it that way. So when we cry out to God for justice, we are saying, “Yes, Lord, You have delivered me from the curse of the law, therefore I no longer have to live under the oppression of the enemy. We can ask Him, “How do I proceed with this, because You are the God of all Justice?”
Dan: Julie just brought out a particular application of this scripture, which I also had wanted to point out, and it’s really fresh in her life. But it also applies in other areas: marketplace wrongs, relationship issues, politics. We are speaking really of the justice contained in God’s covenant with us: The enemy no longer has a right to oppress us!
Julie: Delays are hard, hard, hard, but they are also wonderful, wonderful, wonderful - because along the way, God gives us these gems - Gems of revelation. There isn’t anything like receiving a revelation from the Lord. Never be satisfied with just information. In the delays He will lead YOU STEP BY STEP, if you ask Him. He will show you the next step, He will give you a revelation. and that will always be based on His Word. We begin with a promise from His word and then we continue on with His revelation and His direction.
Dan: Another occasion where Jesus directly teaches on this matter of delayed answers comes in Luke, Chapter 11. The scripture starts when the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray, and He gives them what we call “The Lord’s Prayer.” But He does not leave that laying in place as some ritual, but immediately engages the necessity of PERSISTING in prayer. He tells the parable of the man who has a traveling friend who arrives at midnight. The man has nothing in the house to feed him, so he goes next door to his neighbor friend to ask for bread. The answer is “Go away, my family and I are in bed.” He won’t get up and respond out of friendship, but because of the man’s persistent demand, the neighbor finally responds. Jesus doubles down on the teaching by saying “Ask, seek, knock, continuously.”
The continuous action orientation comes out particularly when you study the Hebrew background. I recently ordered a book to give to Richard, because of his great interest in this subject. The book, by Thorlief Boman, “Hebrew Thought Compared with Greek,” does an excellent job with this issue. He states that for the Hebrew, nothing has any reality to it if it is not in motion. The Greek mind is concerned first with abstractions like form and shape, distinct from the variables of action. Consider then the words of Jesus: Hear my words and do them. Build your house on the solid rock not on the sand of your own thinking. We need to repent for presuming that we are qualified to contemplate whether or not God’s words to us are true. We should do the words, trusting Him to teach and refine us in them while we are on the way doing them!
Julie: In Bowman’s book, he shares that the Hebrew word “dabar” is also a very active thing. He shares that for the Hebrew the “active Word” touches the very essence of God. We know that Jesus is the Word of God. Whether in flesh or in script, He is the Word of God. Your Bible is the Word of God. God’s Word will perform what it says. You don’t have to make it happen and I don’t have to make it happen. God’s word planted in our hearts will perform what He says. By those promises we become partakers of His nature. He’s the one who performs it, not us. He fulfills every promise.
Dan: We’re not done with Luke 11 yet. Jesus carries forward what He is teaching by asking, “If your son asks for a piece of bread, you won’t give him a snake, will you? Or if he asks for an egg, you won’t give him a scorpion, will you? This pushes things to the heart of the matter: The Character of the Father. Insight into the character of the Father is what allows us to endure delayed answers to prayer. Is He trustworthy? If He is, you can sign on and wait as long as it takes!
For example, in Abraham’s life, after the events of Genesis 14 where Abraham and his allies recovered the entire captured wealth of Sodom & Gomorrah, but refused to be enriched by that recovery so only God would get credit for Abraham’s riches; God came to Abraham and told him that his reward would be very great.
Abraham the Hebrew immediately used the occasion to address God about his childless state. God’s response was to tell Abraham to look at the sand by the sea and at the stars in the sky and told him that would be the count of his kids. Abraham believed God. He believed that God spoke truth. It was not religious, but right relationship (righteous). Then God made covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15 and took the unprecedented step of taking upon Himself the oath of both parties. That locked the deal. But it was still 20+ years before he got his promised son. Delay always seems to be part of the process!
We must choose: Either we are faith people, or we are going to be performance people. Will we make the answer happen by our own thought and willpower, or will we stand until God does it? The biggest danger may be a third fall-back position, whereby we teach ourselves how to feel good about it not happening - retreat inside - become Stoics. But God is a Hebrew - all about things IN MOTION..
Julie: Delay is not denial, but if you want to have faith, plant the word of God in your heart, and it will bring forth your faith. Faith is not just saying “I believe.” It is complete confidence. Even though he faulted later on, Abraham had complete confidence when God spoke to him. Don’t give it up, do not give up...
Dan: We are not dealing here with mere human thought. I want to mention Hebrews 6. Paul talks there about the difficulty of renewing to faith one who falls away, one who has “been enlightened, tasted of the heavenly gift, been made a partaker of Holy Spirit, tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come.” People right away go to the negative about this scripture, arguing about the unforgivable sin, etc., but what about those who don’t turn away? Such persons have “tasted of the powers of the age to come.”
That is heaven and all its potential! How long would you wait to get a taste of that to manifest? God’s word is not of this age. It is from the age to come. It is an invasion force from heaven encroaching on the earth realm. The conduit of its arrival is mostly US! Participate in the end of the age in God! Be part of the miracle of God’s final reign leaking into the earth!
Julie: We all want to make a difference, and if we continue on, He will give us the grace. He will give you the grace and will make the difference through you. So let’s continue on because we love Jesus, because He loved us first. Let’s share the good news. I can make a difference! Don’t give up! Stay in there! Be a blessing! It is not that there is always a delay. We should always pray in expectation, knowing that we have the answer.
Dan: And don’t be offended at Jesus, about the time He takes to answer, because the answer is on the way.
Dan and Julie
Dan and Julie Koerner met one week before final exams in their last week at Westminster Theological Seminary. It had to be a God thing, because it lasted! Dan’s Midwest culture and Julie’s New York culture were conflictive from jump, but the culture of Heaven has deeper roots, and has prevailed!
Both partners have teaching gifts that have been honed on the mission field (Costa Rica and Guatemala). Then there’s that “provoking one another to love and good works” thing from Hebrews 10:24. Dan has been particularly stirred by the focus on the prophetic flow here at the Covenant Center. The truths of God’s covenantal dealings have been of great impact as well in both lives.
Bottom line: God’s Word is the first question and the last answer. This is what Dan and Julie are about.
Contact: info@thecovenantcenter.com
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