Dec
8
2012
Failed Delivery
Posted in Prayer 2 Comments
Two days in a row I have received this message in my inbox.
MAILER-DAEMON: Failed Delivery.
It means the message I sent was undeliverable.
It bounced back to me.
For some reason, seeing that message in my inbox makes me sad.
Somebody did not get my message.
Just when I thought my message was zooming through cyberspace…it is blocked.
Blocked by some mysterious cyber wall.
Two days in a row!
Two separate people!
People who have received my messages successfully before.
Not to be upstaged by the computer…my phone did the same thing yesterday.
I checked a number…knew that the people still lived in the same house.
The number was listed…I called…a fax beep greeted me.
One of my daughters said that perhaps they don’t have a land line any more.
That is another story…
Failed messages.
Failed attempts to reach someone.
A cyber wall.
A fiber-optic obstacle.
We enter a new contact into our phone.
We may type one letter wrong…or miss a number completely.
The message cannot be sent.
The phone call cannot be made.
ONE letter…ONE number.
The phone or the computer cannot intuit what we meant to type.
Failed attempt.
Message undeliverable.
When my prayers returned to me unanswered, I went about mourning as though for my friend or brother. (Psalm 35:11-14)
It is important to be heard.
It is frustrating when we are not heard…when we are not understood.
Communication issues can be very difficult and can be very hurtful.
Communication was once described as being analogous to a tennis match.
I volley my words to you.
You volley your words back.
Conversation.
Sometimes, however, I volley my words to you…and they stay there…on your side.
No volleying.
I look and all the balls are in your court.
None of the serves have been returned.
Delivery successful.
Response failed.
Not so with God.
I will give thanks, for You answered me. (Psalm 118:21)
God answers prayer.
How gracious He will be when you cry for help! As soon as He hears, He will answer you! (Isaiah 30:19)
No prayer bounced back.
No MAILER-DAEMON: Failed Delivery message.
Heard!
There is one exception.
One scenario when prayers are not heard…not answered.
That is when we pray to an idol…and not the Living God.
They say to wood,”You are my father,” and to stone, “You gave me birth.”
They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, “Come and save us!”
Where then are the gods you made for yourselves?
Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! (Jeremiah 2:27,28)
Idols cannot save us.
Idols cannot hear us.
Idols cannot answer us.
Idols are not just the typical statues we think of when we hear the word.
Idols are anything we elevate to the position of God in our lives.
If idols always looked like a golden calf, it would be easy to point our finger at them.
Idols can look very respectable.
It doesn’t matter!
Idols cannot hear…cannot see…cannot act.
Idols will not answer.
We will always get a MAILER-DAEMON: Failed Delivery message.
We sin when we have gods that we put before the Sovereign God.
We have broken the first commandment when we worship anything else but Him.
Prayers to an idol always hit a plexiglass ceiling.
They can’t possibly get through, because there is no one there to hear.
Our prayers to God are a beautiful aroma to Him.
They are heard…every one of them!
No cyber wall.
No fiber optic obstacle.
Call to Me and I will answer you. (Jeremiah 33:3)
MAILER-DAEMON- – Interesting word, that daemon! So close to demon. Guess what, I looked it up: “1. Classical Mythology. a.a god. b. a subordinate deity, as the genius of a place or a person’s attendant spirit. 2.a demon.” A “god”…, a “demon”– and they are linked; yes, they should be, eh?!
Janna,
Thank you for looking this up and giving us a new perspective to consider.
Gina