Rev. Dr. Craig A. Brewick, Ph.D
Answering your prayer
Recently a client was telling me that that she still has anger toward God because He wasn’t answering her prayer as she went through a divorce. She remembered that God ‘told her’ to leave the house three years after she discovered her husband had been continuously unfaithful. Afterwards, she kept calling for God to help her have the strength to get through all the muck that a divorce brings. God was silent, She said, “I haven’t been able to shake off the anger.”
As a counselor who believes that God intervenes in our lives with and without prayer, I thought for a moment how I was going to reply to her. At this moment, she is enrolled in college and working two part-time jobs. She is stresses over school but no longer stresses about the divorce which is now final. In fact, she said, her life is so much better than before.
I queried as to what she is asking of God and, for which, she is not receiving an answer. She said she was asking for strength.
God Will Answer Prayers
My client was facing an age-old mystery. In the Bible Jesus tell us that if we ask for something and we really believe, we shall have it. Mark 11:24. But Christians can tell you they believe that God will answer the prayer but they don’t always see any physical evidence of that happening. Well, God never said how He was going to answer our prayers.
In 1 Corinthians 13:12 Paul writes to the church at Corinth: For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. In ancient times there were no modern mirrors that could exactly reflect our image – face-to-face. The looking glasses at that time only gave us a distorted image. Therefore, when God answers a prayer we cannot always tell it was answered as we understand ‘answered prayer.’ The answer to prayer in our minds is often what we want in a particular situation.
God can only answer prayers perfectly. So when we pray we must have the faith that God is working behind the scenes to bring us to His perfection.
How God Speaks When We Don’t Hear Him
The Bible is full of answers to our prayers. If you’re looking for what God is saying go no further than the Bible. My client was praying for strength. Strength is mentioned in the Bible many times. Philippians 4:13 ‘I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.’ My client prayed for strength but heard no audible voice or any real change in the divorce proceedings. But, by her own accord she said ‘I got through it and now I am living better life.’ Seems to me that God answered that prayer.
