Morling Tuesday Chapel: God responds to prayers

(Photo taken with aunt, grandma and mom during a visit to Korea in 2017.)

Speaker: Daniel Yoo

Scripture: Matthew 11:2-6

Daniel gave a narrative about a ten-year-old Korean boy who said in tears, “I cannot believe in God”. Why? Because the boy thought God didn’t listen to his prayers. The boy’s father was very strict and does not tolerate any academic mistakes. Whenever the boy wasn’t the top of the class, he gets severely beaten. Before the beating, the boy would pray, “God, can you stop my father from beating me?” The prayer remained unanswered. Later, the boy changed his prayers, asking for a stronger body so that he wouldn’t feel the pain. But it didn’t help, and he felt every single pain of that lash. The boy asked, “Every Sunday I go to church, they talk about the love of Jesus. Is this the love of Jesus? Does God love me? Does my father love me?”

Daniel didn’t know how to answer this.

Matthew 11:2-6:

We see John the Baptist put in prison because he considered the marriage between Herod and Herod’s brother’s wife to be unlawful. John heard the news of Jesus preaching the good news to the poor. He asked one of his disciples to ask on his behalf whether he is the Messiah. This is very different from the John who leaped with joy in Elizabeth’s womb when Mary who was pregnant with Jesus came to visit Elizabeth. This is very different from John the Baptist who baptised Jesus and heard a voice from heaven saying, “this is my Son, whom I love”. This John, who declared the coming of the Messiah, is in prison now.

Jesus replied, “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” Jesus is essentially telling him, “John, don’t put me in a box.”

Last year, Daniel’s father came to visit him and said, “I was wrong. I thought I could raise you in the ways that was right, but that belonged to God.” A father who never apologised apologised. Daniel’s prayer was answered.

If there are any doubts, take it to Christ and patiently wait, because He reveals Himself and He responds.

Personal thoughts and reflections:

It can be very frustrating when what we pray for seems to be unanswered. It is especially unsettling when prayers for deliverance from abuse/ persecution/ terminal conditions seem to go unanswered.

Around ten years ago, I enrolled in a church course, and they asked us to write down what our burdens are. Being the only Christian in my family back then, I wrote “the salvation of all of my relatives in Taiwan”. They also asked us to write down our one-year goal, two-year goal, and five-year goals. The one-year and two-year goals were achieved quite easily. However, ten years have passed and the five-year goal hasn’t happened yet: getting married and salvation of the whole extended family. God knows the best timing for everything, so I shouldn’t be the one setting the timing (now I wonder why they even set this exercise in the course).

Lately, lots has happened with my relatives in Taiwan. Last month, my maternal grandma was admitted into hospital with life-threatening sepsis. Thank God she survived the incident and is out and about again. However, my instincts tell me that this year will be like 2015 where I had to make four trips to Taiwan. Today, I received news that my youngest maternal aunt, who had just been admitted in to hospital with severe bleeding and pain, has metastatic cancer to her liver and lungs. This is something I am struggling to come to terms with.

Wind back to 2016: my aunt had worked very hard all her life and finally, she gets to retire. She was very happy and travelled a lot. In October 2016, she broke the news that she was diagnosed with terminal cancer in July 2016 and already completed treatment, and the tumour became undetectable after the treatment. She told me she had prayed to God during those difficult times. I took her through the prayer to accept Jesus as her saviour. However, she didn’t want to go to church or have church people visit her, and I couldn’t follow through since I live overseas.

The news of her cancer recurrence is devastating for everyone. She is so devastated herself that she doesn’t want to talk to anyone. She had worked so hard all her life only to be hit with terminal cancer within a year of her retirement and had to go through all the pains of the cancer itself and the cancer treatment. I imagine that most cancer patients will pray to God asking Him to cure their cancer (or at least, take away the pain and the emotional distress associated with it). I guess this prayer was partially answered because her tumour did go into remission for approximately a year (which in of itself is already a miraculous outcome for what was diagnosed as terminal cancer). I can only pray that she can have faith in God no matter how things turn out (I really pray that God answers this prayer), and possibly even make a visit to Taiwan this month to be present for my distressed relatives (especially my mom).

Addit: On 12April 2018 (coinciding with the 27th of Nisan, the Yom HaShoah (יום השואה), known in English as the Holocaust Remembrance Day, my prayer has been answered (2 days after the Tuesday chapel). Thanks to God!