Tuesday lurked yesterday and now takes the forefront. Time to ramble:
- Perhaps “unanswered” misidentifies the reality here. God always answers, He just calls us to conform our will to His.
- So, let me say God is not answering the prayers for our city in the way I would like.
- Example: I have prayed for this heroin epidemic to lessen. At 11:46 p.m. Monday night sirens outside remind me of the despair and desperation gripping so many in our city.
- Another overdose? I know it’s possible…
- God’s answer, up to this point, has not involved less overdosing and less pain. So in prayer I (we) must seek His purposes.
- Why does desperation linger? God could stop it all instantly. Human effort and outcry only increase.
- In the unknown, I seek to trust God more.
- Another example: I also pray justice and protection over our city. Yet I know many who struggle with lack of justice, yes many who fall victim to abuse or worse. Does God not care?
- Of course He does. Our prayers must remind us God is in charge. He stands worthy of authority; sovereign over this world.
- Further, we must tie our understanding of the world to the fact that human sin, not God, has caused the chaos we experience (I’m NOT saying that certain individuals deserve injustice or abuse, just that we must understand the general truth of human sin when attempting to sort things out).
- Certainly, prayers answered in ways I don’t like shouldn’t stop me from praying. Continuing to pray during difficulty only increases the joy. Luke 18:1-8 contains a great read on this topic.
- Remember, Jesus taught His followers to pray:
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
- Seeking God’s will takes us to depths of searching for understanding not ultimately ours. When prayers go “unanswered”, we should seek how God may desire to grow us through our waiting.