Unexpected Answers to Prayer

Here’s the thought for the day.

Just because God doesn’t always answer our prayers exactly as we would hope doesn’t mean we should stop asking.

For instance, when Neal and I spent eighteen months unemployed and faced bankruptcy, I prayed for deliverance from financial hardships every day.

What I usually asked for was the money to pay our debts, wanting the money to pay them all right then, so we could be done with them. I was willing accept the miraculous disappearance of those bills with no effort on our part, too. My thought was that if that would happen, we could handle the rest.

What God provided was the money to set up payment plans and to make the payments. He provided jobs for Neal and me within months of each other and provided the plan (Dave Ramsey) to work our way through budgeting and debt elimination.

No, those weren’t the answers I was hoping for, but they were answers.

I think God expects me to continue asking for full payment, even now after those difficult times have passed. Furthermore, I think he would be disappointed and sad if I didn’t have the faith to continue asking. Or if I were to think that asking for a thing – ANY thing – once is enough. Think of the widow and the unjust judge. She didn’t get what she wanted right away and had no certainty she would ever get it, but she kept asking and was eventually rewarded.

Is it a matter of persuading God? Not at all. There is no magic key or magic formula that will make the world ours if we can but say the right words or think the right thoughts.

God already knows what He will do. He will not change His mind because what He plans is for our good, not our harm.

The real purpose of persistent prayer, as I currently understand it, is to change my frame of mind and point of reference. Praying for provision when bills are due or when the cupboards are bare and there’s no money is to focus my attention on God, not on the problem.

Speaking from experience, I can also say that one of the benefits of persistent prayer is molding my will to God’s. If, through such prayer, I become a more faithful, more trusting, more honest servant of the Living God, then what does it matter whether those bills are paid in one lump sum or month by month?

God is not so much concerned about my being happy as He is about my being a good and faithful servant. On those occasions when that ultimate purpose is advanced by my happiness, it will happen. But on those occasions when it will be best advanced by challenges and hardships – or when easy times will actually cause spiritual harm – then they will be withheld.

And I wouldn’t want it any other way. It takes a lot of weight off my shoulders to trust in God through thick and thin; through prayers that are answered as hoped for and those that receive unexpected answers.00