Fault Is Best Viewed In A Mirror - Psalm 66:18

If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. - Psalm 66:18

    There is a constant hum among unbelievers, near-believers, and weak believers about the efficacy of prayer. We hear how these people have prayed and yet God has ignored their desires. In their minds, it is always God that has somehow failed to come through. Seldom do they ever consider that it might be their fault that God has seen fit to ignore their prayers. “Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” - Isaiah 59:1-2.
    How often have we heard the pangs of abandonment when tragedy takes place? “God doesn’t listen. God doesn’t care. Where is God when we need Him?” Assume the human-fold for a moment. Which of you would be quick to present someone with a gift who paid you no deference or ignored you? Who berated you and disparaged you? Someone who disrespected you and cast aspersions your way? Consider now the definition of a gift. A gift is something that has not been earned by the prospective receiver. Something that wasn’t due him or her. A gift is something that you bestow upon someone out of the goodness of your heart, not because they had it coming to them. Trust my words when I say that the last thing any of us wants from God is what is coming to us. Never has the adage, ‘Be careful what you wish for,’ been so apropos.
    “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” - James 4:3. These are the prayers of the unrighteous. It should come as no surprise that God ignores such plights. The prayers of the unrighteous are astounding in their audacity and presumptuousness. Yet when they go unanswered, the sinner shrugs his shoulders and points at God and swears, “He is the reason my prayers have not been answered!” Beside being absolutely absurd, only the cries from hell are more thunderous.
    So whose prayers will God hear and answer? The Bible is very clear about answered prayer. First, we must ask in faith. “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” - Matthew 21:22. Then we must ask according to God’s will, not ours. “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.” - 1 John 5:14. We must obey His commandments. “and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.” - 1 John 3:22. Finally, we must ask everything in Christ’s name. “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”- John 14:13-14.    All the above mentioned prerequisites have one thing in common: they are the traits common to all true believers in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So it is of the utmost importance that before we assign fault or blame for failing to receive gifts and blessings from God, that we look deeply into the mirror before we point the finger at God.
    God’s mercy is not due us otherwise it wouldn’t be mercy. It is God’s decision to show mercy to whom he will show mercy. “For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’” - Romans 9:15. We cannot demand mercy. The very thought of doing so is ludicrous. Nor we cannot expect it if we are determined to live our lives according to our own worldly wills and desires. God has no obligation to bless us. That is the Biblical truth. So if we are intent on having things our own way, then we should not find fault in God, but in ourselves.