Double Answer to Prayer

By Andrew McChesney

The first-year theology student ran to the worship room at Zaoksky Adventist University south of Moscow, Russia. Falling on his knees, he prayed, “Lord, why are You blessing me? I am so sinful.”

Twenty-year-old Vadim Antyushin felt an overwhelming sense of his unworthiness of God’s blessings.

Image © Pacific Press

He felt unworthy to study at the university and of the calling to become a Seventh-day Adventist pastor. He had just started his first semester of classes and, moments earlier, had unexpectedly received a gift of U.S.$100. It was a significant sum for him. “Lord, I’m unworthy of this money,” Vadim prayed. “You have provided all my needs, and I lack nothing. Show me what to do with the money.” Vadim exchanged the U.S. dollars for Russian rubles. After tithe, 6,000 rubles remained.

Vadim joined a small group of students who met once a week to pray and, a few days later, heard one of the students ask for prayers about his financial situation. Vadim listened silently. He didn’t know the student, and he didn’t know how much money he needed for his tuition. That night, Vadim returned to the worship room to pray. “Lord,” he said, “I would like to give the money to my classmate. Please bless this plan according to Your will.”

The next day, Vadim pulled aside his classmate to speak privately.

“How much money do you need for your studies?” he asked.

“Six thousand rubles,” the classmate replied.

Stunned, Vadim realized that God had answered his prayers. Not only that, but God had also answered the prayers of his classmate. Vadim joyfully gave the 6,000 rubles to his astonished classmate. The two embraced.

Two years later, the classmate has become one of Vadim’s best friends.

“He and I have gone through a lot together, and he has helped me in so many ways,” Vadim said in an interview. “Thank God that I have acquired such a friend. Thank God that He takes care of our needs long before we even know that we have a need. Before we ask, He knows what to give and through whom to give it. The main thing is to trust Him.”

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:19-20; NKJV).

This mission story illustrates the following components of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s “I Will Go” strategic plan: Spiritual Growth Objective No. 5, “To disciple individuals and families into spirit-filled lives,” and Spiritual Growth Objective No. 7, “To help youth and young adults place God first and exemplify a biblical worldview.” Read more: IWillGo2020[dot].org.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

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Further Thought:

Read Ellen G. White, “The Night of Wrestling,” Pages 195-203, in Patriarchs and Prophets.

“Jacob’s experience during that night of wrestling and anguish represents the trial through which the people of God must pass just before Christ’s second coming … Such will be the experience of God’s people in their final struggle with the powers of evil.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

God will test their faith, their perseverance, their confidence in His power to deliver them. Satan will endeavor to terrify them with the thought that their cases are hopeless; that their sins have been too great to receive pardon. They will have a deep sense of their shortcomings, and as they review their lives their hopes will sink. But remembering the greatness of God’s mercy, and their own sincere repentance, they will plead His promises made through Christ to helpless, repenting sinners. Their faith will not fail because their prayers are not immediately answered. They will lay hold of the strength of God, as Jacob laid hold of the Angel, and the language of their souls will be, ‘I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.’ …

Yet Jacob’s history is an assurance that God will not cast off those who have been betrayed into sin, but who have returned unto Him with true repentance. It was by self-surrender and confiding faith that Jacob gained what he had failed to gain by conflict in his own strength. God thus taught His servant that divine power and grace alone could give him the blessing he craved. Thus it will be with those who live in the last days. As dangers surround them, and despair seizes upon the soul, they must depend solely upon the merits of the atonement. We can do nothing of ourselves.” — Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, Pages 201-203.

Discussion Questions:

<–Thursday

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/friday-further-thought-jacob-israel/

Read Genesis 35:15-29. What other woes did Jacob face within his dysfunctional family?

As soon as Jacob leaves Bethel, three interrelated incidents mark the last step of his journey toward the Promised Land: Jacob’s last son was born; Rachel died; and Reuben, Jacob’s first son from Leah, slept with Jacob’s concubine. Though the text doesn’t say why the young man would do something so evil, it could have been that he wanted to somehow defile the birth of Jacob’s last son and to humiliate the memory of Rachel. We just don’t know.

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The birth of Jacob’s last son is linked to Bethlehem (Genesis 35:19), which is within the confines of the Promised Land. This birth is, then, the first fulfillment of God’s promise for the future of Israel. The midwife, prophetically, addresses Rachel with the very words God used to reassure Abraham: “Do not fear” (Genesis 35:17, NKJV, compare with Genesis 15:1).

Significantly, Jacob changes the name that the dying Rachel had given to her son, Ben-Oni, meaning “son of my sorrow” to signify her pain, into Benjamin, meaning “son of the right hand,” perhaps implying the direction of the south in order to express his hope in the Promised Land and all that God said He would do for His people after they had settled there.

Yet during this time Reuben has sexual relations with Bilhah, his father’s concubine and Rachel’s maidservant (Genesis 35:25, Genesis 30:3). We just don’t know why he did this scandalous act, other than as another example of human depravity.

Amazingly, Jacob does not respond to this horrible violation, even though he is told about it (Genesis 35:22). Perhaps at this point in his life, Jacob trusts God that He will fulfill His word despite the sin and evil at times that goes on around him.

It is this precise lesson of faith that is implied in the list of Jacob’s 12 sons, who will be the ancestors of Israel (Genesis 35:22-26). Not the most savory and kindest of people, as we will see. Yet despite all the problems, all the dysfunction, even outright evil, such as Reuben with Bilhah, God’s will was going to be fulfilled through this family, no matter how messed up this family really was.

<–Wednesday Friday–>

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Yet your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me. Genesis 31:7 NKJV

I love how Jacob realized that, even though Laban had cheated him, Laban was not able to hurt him. In Genesis 33, when Jacob tries to repay what he has cheated Esau, Esau tells Jacob that he has plenty and does not need to be repaid. God took care of Jacob when Laban cheated Jacob, and God took care of Esau when Jacob cheated Esau.

But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” Genesis 33:9 NKJV

This is an important lesson on what our attitude should be towards those who have wronged us. 

Don’t say, “I will get even for this wrong.” Wait for the Lord to handle the matter. Proverbs 20:22 NLT

A while back, after a friend had wrongfully taken money from me, I was reading,

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Romans 12:19 KJV

While I had read this many times before, this particular time I saw it in a new light. Yes, it is true that people will hang on their own gallows, Yet rather than just seeing those who have wronged us getting paid back for their wrong, I saw God was telling me, He would repay me what my friend had wrongfully taken.

In Philemon 1:17-18 NLT Paul is pleading for everyone to give Onesimus a second chance in the ministry. Paul tells them,

So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. If he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge it to me. I, PAUL, WRITE THIS WITH MY OWN HAND: I WILL REPAY IT. AND I WON’T MENTION THAT YOU OWE ME YOUR VERY SOUL!

Likewise I heard God telling me in Romans 12, “if your friend has robbed you, don’t worry. I will pay you back what they owe you. Don’t take it out on him. Leave him alone, and let Me make it right.”

That is exactly what happened. Right after I read Romans 12, another friend called who had bought some new furniture and wanted to give me their old furniture even thought it was still in excellent condition. God has continued to bless me in many other ways. God has more than paid me back for what my friend had stolen from me.

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Read Genesis 34:30-35:15. What lessons can we take about true worship from what happened here?

Immediately after Jacob’s complaint that his peace with the Canaanites had been compromised (Genesis 34:30), and after his two sons were rebuked (Genesis 34:30), God urges Jacob to leave Shechem and return to Bethel in order to renew his covenant. Indeed, the Lord tells him that, once he gets there, he needs to build an altar.

Image © Krieg Barrie from GoodSalt.com

Meanwhile, the first thing recorded after God’s command is Jacob’s telling his people to put away the Canaanite idols, which had been taken in the plunder of the city of Shechem and the household gods that had been stolen by Rachel (Genesis 31:19, Genesis 31:32). All this, too, is crucial to the idea of the covenant with God.

These idols had been kept and, probably, worshiped in spite of Jacob’s commitment to God. It was not enough for Jacob to leave Shechem in order to escape Canaanite influence. Jacob had to get rid of the idols within the camp and in the hearts of his people.

The process of repentance consists in more than a physical move from one place to another, or a move from one church to another. Most important, it is that we seek by God’s grace to purge the idolatry in our hearts, regardless of where we live, because we can make idols out of just about anything.

When Jacob obeys God and proceeds according to God’s commandment, God finally intervenes and “the terror of God” (Genesis 35:5, NKJV) affects all the people around them, and they do not dare attack Jacob. Jacob is, then, ready to worship with “all the people who were with him” (Genesis 35:6, NKJV), suggesting that the family unity has been restored. Jacob gives this place the name El Bethel, a reminder of his dream of the ladder, a sign that the connection between heaven and earth, which had been broken for some time, has now been restored.

The emphasis is, this time, on the God of Bethel rather than on the place itself. This personal note resonates again, when God reminds Jacob of his name “Israel” (Genesis 35:10), with the double promise that this blessing implies. Jacob’s blessing, first, means fruitfulness, the transmission of the Messianic seed and the generation of many nations (Genesis 35:11); and second, it points to the Promised Land (Genesis 35:12).

<–Tuesday Thursday–>

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