When and Why?

Show us your steadfast love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.

Psalm 85:7

When do you think God answered these two prayers? No doubt, those who prayed these recorded prayers have been the recipient of God’s showing and granting. An important question is: on what basis did He answer these pleas? Ultimately, God answered these prayers when Jesus cried out, “It is finished” (John 19:30). 

For example, when David had committed adultery and arranged Uriah’s murder, he received immediate forgiveness for his sins: “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die” (2 Sam. 12:13). Even though God’s law states that both sins are capital crimes, David was forgiven.

On what basis was he forgiven? Paul gave us the answer: “Whom [Jesus] God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins” (Rom. 3:25), including the ones David had committed. Every forgiven sin has a beeline to the cross. There’s no forgiveness apart from Jesus’ sacrificial death. The same is true with all answered prayer.

At the cross, God’s showed His steadfast love and granted His salvation. Everyinstance of His love toward us and His saving work in and through us is grounded in the greatest reality in history. That means that every answered prayer was obtained at the cross. They have been blood-bought, paid with a very high price. That’s why praying in Jesus’ name is to ask the Father to answer for the sake of His Son—for the sake of His finished work.

Jan Blonk
www.thecauseofchrist.com

Today’s devotional is from It’s All about Jesus, a one-year devotional about the person and work of Jesus Christ.

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