7 Minute Read
Prepare Your Heart
To the best of your ability, get rid of all distractions. Take a few minutes to breathe deeply and quiet yourself in the Lord’s presence. Then, ask the Lord to speak to you in this time. Let Him know that you will listen and make whatever adjustments He will reveal to you.
Read God’s Word
A Verse for Today
Slowly and reflectively read the following verse(s) and listen to what God will say to you through His written Word. Consider writing down any insights He reveals to you.
John 9:31 (CSB): “We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is God-fearing and does his will, he listens to him.”
Reflecting on God’s Word
Just because God’s Word says something doesn’t mean it’s true.
Yep, you read that first sentence correctly. And I meant it because I believe it. But it needs some explanation.
Do you remember in Genesis 3 when Satan showed up in the form of a serpent in the Garden of Eden? He engaged Eve in conversation, and she told him that they were instructed by God not to eat or touch the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, or they would die. What did Satan say in response?
Genesis 3:4 (CSB): ” ‘No! You will certainly not die,’ the serpent said to the woman.”
Satan’s words were diabolically untrue! He lied to them! When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, they died spiritually (a chasm formed between themselves and a holy God), and they began to die physically.
So, Satan’s words are in the Bible, and they are clearly untrue.
I will restate my original point: Just because God’s Word says something doesn’t mean it’s true. And I will add that the areas we really need to watch for this are in the narrative sections.
I believe God’s Word is absolutely perfect and without any error in its original writings. But that doesn’t mean that everything on its pages is true. Sometimes, the Bible will recount something that Satan or people said, and it is clearly not true. The inerrant Bible recounts perfectly (without error) what was said, but it assumes the reader will know that what was said was not true.
So, we come to the verse I have chosen for today. Is the statement in John 9:31 true?
John 9:31 (CSB): “We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is God-fearing and does his will, he listens to him.”
When contemporary Christians claim that God doesn’t listen to sinners’ prayers (they always give an exception for the prayer of someone asking Jesus to save them), they point to John 9:31 as proof. But is this verse the “proof” that many Christians think it is? I don’t believe it is.
Why don’t I think so? Well, what I think doesn’t matter. Let’s look at what the Bible says.
For starters, the man who made that statement was an unbeliever when he said it. He said those words in John 9:31, but we have to jump a few more verses later to the point where he gets saved.
John 9:35-36 (CSB): “Jesus heard that they had thrown the man out, and when he found him, he asked, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ ‘Who is he, Sir, that I may believe in him?’ he asked.”
To restate what we just learned, the man in John 9 was an unbeliever when he said the words in John 9:31. He was an unbeliever when he stated emphatically that God doesn’t listen to sinners. So, while the Bible is without error and we can be certain that the man actually said those words, the Bible does not necessarily affirm what the unsaved man said.
Let’s continue thinking through this issue.
If God doesn’t listen to sinners (and I believe that, as a general rule, He does not), then we should not point to John 9:31 because the man who said it was still unsaved. He was lost and dead in trespasses and sins. We need to look elsewhere in the Bible to understand whether or not God listens to the prayers of sinners.
But, before we go any further, we really need to define our terms. What do we mean by “God doesn’t listen to the prayers of sinners?” It cannot mean that God is deaf when sinners speak. If that were true, He couldn’t have heard a single thing that Satan said to Him in Job 1-2. Instead, it means that God has no covenantal obligation to effectually hear (listen and answer) to the prayers of people not redeemed by His grace.
God does not tend to reward people who are in sin, whether it is a believer who is sinning or someone who has never become a God-follower (Old Testament) or Jesus-follower (New Testament). Just two verses of the many that bear out this point are Isaiah 59:1-2.
Isaiah 59:1-2 (CSB): “Indeed, the LORD’s arm is not too weak to save, and his ear is not too deaf to hear. But your iniquities are separating you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not listen.”
So, the general rule is that God has no obligation whatsoever to effectually listen to the prayers of someone whose heart is far from Him. He’s not deaf. He hears every word they say. But He has no covenantal obligation to listen and answer as He sees fit.
But, does He sometimes extend grace and listen to sinners and maybe even answer their prayers? Yes.
Nebuchadnezzar acted like a self-indulgent pagan (certainly not a God-follower), and yet he prayed and God listened (Daniel 4:34-37). The Ninevites were not God-followers (we are told that they repented but not that they became followers of the Lord), and yet God heard their prayer (Jonah 3:5-10). And Cornelius wasn’t saved until after Peter arrived and shared the Gospel, and yet God heard and answered His prayer (Acts 10:1-4).
So, does God effectually listen to the prayers of sinners? By default, no. But there are rare times when His grace is extended even to the worst of sinners. Because He is a God of overwhelming love and grace, He reserves the right to periodically listen and respond to the prayers, even of unregenerate sinners. But, the overwhelming pattern in Scripture is that God only effectually listens to those who are following Him and not tolerating sin in their life.
And one final point: As we observe that there are a few instances in the Bible when God heard and answered the prayers of people who were not followers of Him, we realize that answered prayer is not a tell-tale sign that someone is saved, only that God is gracious. So, if you ask someone if they are saved and they answer, “Yes, because God has answered one of my prayers,” realize that that is no biblical proof that salvation has actually taken place. It is only evidence of a gracious God who acted in love toward one of His creatures, in spite of their heart’s condition.
Spend Time in Prayer
- Ask God to help you grow in your ability to rightly understand and apply God’s Word.
- Ask God to help you realize that He is more loving and gracious than we could ever imagine, that His kindness toward us comes from His nature, and that it is not necessarily an affirmation of our lives and choices.
Going Deeper
If you want to dig a little deeper into whether or not God hears and answers the prayers of unbelievers, consider reading the following GotQuestions article:
“Does God hear / answer the prayers of a sinner / unbeliever?”
Sharing
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Matt Ellis is the pastor of First Baptist Church in Polk City, Florida (fbcpolkcity.com)
Matt’s Musings 