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| “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” |
| —1 John 5:14 |
Does God hear the prayers of His dearly loved children? Of course He does. Does He always answer our prayers? Yes, He always does.
But, we sometimes don’t like the answer. Sometimes His answer is to trust Him. We ask for things to return to what they once were. He responds that He has a new plan for us.
We need a job. He gives us time to get to know Him better. We counter that knowing Him better doesn’t pay our bills. He responds that we must trust Him. Isn't He meeting our every real need?
We want to feel as important as we once did. He says we are important enough to Him and that should be enough. We say that it’s not. He smiles and tells us that’s one of the lessons He wants us to learn.
We threaten to abandon our faith or to radically depart from what we once believed. He says to go ahead, but we’ll be even less content than we are in trusting Him.
We want to reconcile with those who have hurt us so deeply. But, God has hardened their hearts. Their sin has separated them from Him and part of their pain is the bitterness that keeps them from the pathway of confession, repentance, restitution, and reconciliation. We want to reconcile, but they won't take the first three steps.
The hardest lesson we will ever learn is to fall back into God’s loving arms and always, always, always trust Him for what lies ahead. We must learn to fully accept our present reality and allow God to show us the answer He has for our earnest prayers.
Believe me, I know whereof I speak. I once moved with great ease. Now, when I am outside of my home, I must either walk with two canes or ride in a powered wheel chair. I once was a leader in my profession. Now I am professionally irrelevant because I can’t travel to meetings, speaking engagements, or conventions.
God has graciously given me a new assignment. It brings me joy to serve in a new way. But, I sorely miss teaching seminars, speaking to large groups, writing codes and standards, defending what I believe is right, and having the respect of my peers.
I have not yet fully learned that most important lesson: to fall back into God’s loving arms and accept the new plan He has for me.
On the surface it may appear to others that I’m doing quite well. But, on the inside, I have been too often consumed with a burning anger over the loss of what once was my life. How foolish and ungrateful I am!
The lesson is there for each of us to learn in his or her own way. You see, falling back into His arms of love is the toughest lesson we will ever learn.
The Apostle John wrote these critically important and powerfully comforting words in 1 John 5:14-15:
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
This day, out of the depths of my own neediness, I urge us all to let go of what once was and fall back into God’s loving arms. He is this very moment working out His perfect will for our lives. He is, indeed, answering our prayers according to His perfect will.
Only one thing remains for us to do: as we fall back into His loving arms, we must say, “Thank You, Lord.”
