Thoughts for Life: #54 Juniper Tree Prayers

Samuel Chadwick: Elijah was mighty in prayer. God answered all his prayers but one, and that was the prayer that he might die. He was under the juniper tree, suffering from mental and physical reaction.

Yesterday had been a great day. He had stood alone as God's champion: strong, defiant, triumphant. The next day was the day after! At the treat of a woman he fled. (Google image, Elijah discouraged)

His nerves were unstrung. Fear, despondency and despair took hold of him. In the fret and frenzy of depression he prayed that he might die.

The disease is still with us, and is so multiplied that there are not enough juniper trees to go around. There are morbid Christians who have built tabernacles under them. Nerve collapse is more spiritual than physical, though it is usually both.

There is no despondency in faith. What a mercy God does not always take us at our word. Nothing dishonors God more than the fretful despondency of the saints. Juniper trees make poor sanctuaries.

The Apostle's thorn in the flesh need not detain us, for we have already dealt with the subject of prayer and affliction. The thorn was a physical affliction, and because he regarded it as a hindrance he prayed for its removal.

It was not removed though he besought the Lord thrice. He had to learn that affliction may be God's messenger as well as the messenger of Satan.

The Answer to Unanswered Prayers

None of these prayers was unanswered. They were not granted, but they were answered, and "No" was the answer. "No" is as truly an answer as "Yes."

When a request is refused, it is truly as answered as when it is granted. Refusal may be the only answer possible to love and wisdom and truth. A child may cry for a razor, and full-grown people may cry for things equally unsuitable, unsafe and unwise.

Many have lived to thank God that He withstood their agonizing entreaties at come particular time or for some particular thing that seemed indispensable.

God never refuses without reason. He knows the past, in which there may be reasons for present disqualification. Forgiven sin may disable. Moses and David were both examples of this (Deu. 32:49-52; 2 Sam. 12:14).

There are vessels that break on the wheel, and though another may be made, the original is impossible. Diseases may be healed, but a lost limb cannot be restored.

The Lord knows the future as well as he past. The immediate may imperil the future. The eagerness for a mess of pottage may involve the loss of an inheritance. Esau got the answer to his entreaty at dinner time. Jacob got his at dawn. God spared Hezekiah fifteen years, but he had better have gone when the Lord sent for him. (pp. 129, 130)

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THE PATH OF PRAYER
By Samuel Chadwick
(Click on the title to buy)

Used by the permission of

www.cliffcollege.ac.uk
(Italics added)

Let's pray-

Father, we know that Elijah was a mighty man in prayer, and we understand his deep desire to die. He was suffering from mental and physical reaction to the death-threat of Jezebel for killing her prophets.
The fear, despondency and despair took hold of him, and in the fret and frenzy of depression he prayed that he might die! Your answer of "No" was the answer.
As it was as truly an answer as a "Yes" would be, we have to see that You had vision of the big picture for his life; so the request was refused.
Help us understand that Your refusal to a request we make, may be the only answer possible for You to love us with wisdom and truth. As with Elijah, there may very well be a much better plan ahead for us than our earnest petition.
May we remember that You never refuse our requests without a good reason, for you know our past and there may be reasons for the present disqualification.
We turn to Your wisdom to handle our requests for something that may very well imperil our future. Please help us become wise in our efforts to pray, and to discern whether or not we're asking for Your will to be done, or ours.
We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Today's Bible verses-

Matthew 11:28-29 (AMPC) “Come to Me, all you
who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened,

and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve

and refresh your souls.] Take My yoke upon you

and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble

(lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and

ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed

quiet) for your souls."

Isaiah 44:22, (NLT) “I have swept away your sins

like a cloud. I have scattered your offenses like the

morning mist. Oh, return to me, for I have paid the

price to set you free."

Today's quote-

~ Octavius Winslow- "Christ our life." "We are risen with Christ." By this we are declared to be a chosen, and adopted, a pardoned, a justified, and a quickened people. As Jesus did bear about in His lowly, suffering, tempted, and tried humanity, the hidden essential life, so we, in these frail, sinful, bruised, dying bodies enshrine the life derived from a risen Head, the hidden life concealed with Christ in God.

What is the holy state here enjoined? Heavenly-mindedness. On what ground is it enforced? Our resurrection with Christ. As a risen people, how heavenly-minded, then, ought we to be! How incompatible and incongruous do groveling pursuits, and carnal joys, and earthly ambitions appear, with the life professedly one and risen with the incarnate God!

(Taken from p. 6 & 7 of Risen With Christ! in the March 2019 edition of HERALD OF HIS COMING, Vol. 78 No. 3 (927). Used by permission)

Words of wisdom-

~ Prayer in the morning opens us to the treasure of God's mercies and blessings, and in the evening, it is our key that shuts us up under His protection and safeguard.

~ When we're under God's favor, we find our work is blessed.

Today's popular post-

Under the Juniper Tree

Mary Southerland - “Elijah is a great example of a man in need of rest. One day he was the conquering hero, the next we find him sitting under a Juniper tree, wallowing in self-pity – and begging God to let him die."

Upcoming posts-

My Story- Part 1