God
Hears the Prayers of Failing Believers
By
Arthur J Licursi*
In
the course of Abraham’s journeying south, Abimelech, king of Gerar, had
taken Abraham’s wife, Sarah, as his own, but had done so innocently,
not knowing she was Abraham’s wife.
Sarah
was a beautiful woman and Abraham was afraid that Abimelech would kill him
and take Sarah as a concubine. So Abraham said to Abimelech, “She is
my sister.” Sarah was also fearful and vouched for Abraham’s lie,
telling the king: “He is my
brother.”
But
to save the failing couple from the consequences of their own cowardice
and sin, God came to king Abimelech in a dream, warning Abimelech that if
he valued his own life he would immediately return Sarah to her rightful
husband — and then God said something amazing to Abimelech, “and he
(Abraham) shall pray (intercede) for thee, and thou shalt live”
(Gen. 20:7).
Can
this be true, that God would listen to the prayer of Abraham for Abimelech
in the light of Abraham’s failure as a liar? Will God hear the
interceding prayer of guilty Abraham praying for innocent Abimelech?
The
answer is, yes!
This
is because even while Abimelech was a pagan who served other gods,
Abraham was a genuine believer; so even with all Abraham’s failure and
sin, Abraham was still God’s
child.
Abraham’s
prayer would of course be a prayer of confession
of his own sin and
a
plea that it might not
be laid to the charge of innocent Abimelech… IT
WAS ABRAHAM,
not Abimelech, WHO HAD ACCESS TO GOD.
This
is the case of every failing believer. Our Heavenly Father loves and hears
our heart’s prayers. Every believer can rest assured that they can come
boldly to the throne of grace regardless of their failures.
“LET
US THEREFORE COME BOLDLY UNTO THE THRONE OF GRACE, that we may obtain
mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
(Hebrews 4:16)
This
is an important lesson to learn.
Many
unsaved people point to the failures of believers saying, “I
wouldn’t be guilty of that. If he goes to heaven, then I certainly
will get there.” But, such “good” non-believing people are still
lost, while poor
sinners who have trusted Christ for salvation are saved even
when they have failed. This is only because they have been “made
accepted in the Beloved One”
(Eph.1:6).
This
is a wonderful demonstration that our salvation
and standing is by
God’s grace through faith alone, certainly “not
of works.”
“NOT
BY WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH WE HAVE DONE, but ACCORDING
TO HIS MERCY HE SAVED US, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing
of the Holy Ghost;” (Titus 3:5)
There
is only one way to find acceptance with God; this is by faith in His Son,
Jesus Christ.
Our
Lord said: “I
am the way, the
truth, and the life; no
man cometh unto the Father but by Me” (John 14:6).
“The
Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands.
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: He
that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God
abideth on him.” (John 3:35-36)
“Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).
We
should never permit our failures to come between our loving Father and us.
We come not due to any merit of ours but by that which is by our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ.
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*This
paper is an expansion upon a paper by Cornelius Stam
