Until now, you have asked for nothing in My name; ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full (John 16:24, NASB).
Patience. Perseverance. Does this describe your golf game? If not, why not? I think I can answer that question for many of us; it is not that important anymore. Now that statement begs the question—what is important?
The Sunday School answer and the real answer are the same—a continuing, dynamic, and transformative relationship with Jesus that reveals how much we need him and how much he loves us each day. Knowing how much he loves us is unimaginably important, which results in our desire to love him more.
Have you ever passionately prayed for something, and God did not seem to answer that prayer? And then, one day, the answer to your prayer illuminates a blessing altogether different and better than the prayer you originally requested.
I have been praying for healing on my right foot now for months. I wrote about this in a devo a few months ago entitled Trust. I was trying to trust by being proactive in my prayers and through the many doctors I visited and the cures I tried.
My calendar was full of doctor appointments, ointments, pills, physical therapy, and injections for pain and nerve blocks. I wanted relief now. Then I read this from Streams in the Desert which gave me a new perspective: “Hudson Taylor was so weak in the last few months of his life that he told a friend, ‘I am so weak I cannot write. I cannot read my Bible. I cannot even pray. All I can do is lie still in the arms of God as a little child, trusting Him.”
This wonderful man of God, who had great spiritual power, came to the point of physical suffering and weakness where all he could do was lie still and trust. That is all God asks of you as his dear child.
When you become weak through the fierce fires of affliction, do not try to ‘be strong.’ Just “be still, and know that [he is] God.” And know that he will sustain you and bring you through the fire. God reserves his best medicine for our times of deepest despair.
I have learned so much through all of this. I have learned that humility is learned by being humbled. I now understand better that good health should not be taken for granted. I also have more empathy for those who really do have life-and-death issues, especially those who do not know Jesus in these trials.
Trust means doing life with God, not for God. We don’t trust and then evaluate when God responds to this trust. We simply trust God for who he is. He can do as he wishes, and we can say with Daniel right before he was to be put in the fiery furnace, “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Daniel 3:17-18, NASB).
In the end, my prayers are being answered. There is healing and no pain. God may elect to heal me without healing my foot. I have so much more to learn from God.
Prayer – Thank you, Jesus, for always answering prayer even when our specific prayer is unanswered.