By Camille Brooks.
Why does God sometimes answer our prayers quickly and other times, slowly?
I have been pondering that question, as my community escaped a wildfire.
Straight east from my home, there is a beautiful mountain that rises majestically over our little community with a charming reservoir lying below. A week ago this mountain stood proud with its lovely greenery reaching for the sky, with no concerns other than changing her colors in response to the gentle whisperings of Autumn in the air. Now, she stands black and smoldering.
The night of the fire, severe winds caused the fire to spread quickly covering a 1,000 acres within an hour and grounded most of the aerial firefighting efforts. Things looked bad. However, to the credit of the people in my small community, many prayed with all their hearts for God’s deliverance. Their prayers were heard and answered almost immediately. The winds stopped and the heavens opened up with rain. It was a miracle. We hadn’t had rain in months!
My question was why does God sometimes answer our prayers quickly, as in this case and other times slowly?
I don’t have all the answers to that question, but let me share a couple of things I have learned about prayer.
Timing
I know God loves us and always wants to bless us. Sometimes, the blessings we are praying for don’t come because the Lord’s timing is different from ours. I have learned that He wants to bless us when the blessing will bless us the most and that is often at a time different from our desires.
Things we must learn
Often, there are things we need to learn before the Lord can grant the righteous desires of our hearts. I find it helps to remember this and ask Lord what do I need to learn? Or what would you have me work on next?
I know if I am prideful and unteachable, the Lord will be slow to hear my cry and answer my prayers. Choosing to allow the Lord to instruct us on a daily basis makes us happy and fills us with peace, even when things seem to be going wrong around us.
Not His will
Occasionally we find ourselves asking for something that is not in accordance with God’s will. I have found it is hard to let go of the outcome we desire and trust in the Lord. Do I have the faith to let a mountain remain when what I want is for it to be removed?
I have found this kind of faith is a lot harder than the faith to move the mountain. In those moments, when I don’t want to let go of my will, I try to remember the Savior and how He wished that His cup could pass from Him, nevertheless, He submitted to the will of His Father and suffered for our sakes. Where would we all be if the Savior had not submitted to the Father’s will? Where will I end up if I don’t submit too God’s will?
Understanding the character of God has helped me trust Him and to be more willing to surrender my will to His. I know God is perfectly just, merciful, kind, omnipotent and omniscient. It is comforting to know He is perfect in every way. Therefore, I know that God knows what is best for me. I can trust Him.
Are we slow to remember Him?
Sometimes God does not answer our prayers because we are slow to remember Him. This is particularly difficult to recognize in ourselves, because we are often caught up in pride. Pride causes blindness—our vision is blurred, which causes us to not see things as they really are.
Often, the only thing that awakens us from the deep sleep of pride is a figurative slap in the face.
When things go wrong in my life, I try to find the root of the problem. When I do, I am staring into the face of pride. Once again, my old foe has crept back in. I ask myself, “In what ways have I been prideful in this situation?” “In what ways could I be meek and put off my pride?”
I have found meekness kicks pride out, and allows peace, joy and progress to return. Even if the circumstances don’t improve because of other’s use of agency, I feel at-one with God.
God honors those who honor him
I know God honors those who honor Him. He has promised us that and God keeps His promises. I find when I am quick to remember the Lord—quick to obey his commandments, express gratitude in all things, and stay close to Him through daily study and worship, He is quick to answer my prayers. I have witnessed this over and over again.
However, if I have strayed and gotten too busy to put Him first in my daily life, He is slow to hear my prayers. It is as though my Heavenly Father is saying, “Well Camille, you have been a little slow in remembering me lately. Perhaps, I can best help you grow by being a little slow to remember you and your desires.”
Just as a wise parent does not enable bad behavior in a child, our kind and loving Father in Heaven seeks always to help us become the best version of ourselves. Sometimes, that requires us to experience the consequences of our poor choices.
I was so touched by the example of the faithful people of my community. God answered their prayers quickly when threatened by a recent fire. I can’t help but feel He honored their desires because they had honored Him.
My hope is that each of us can be inspired to honor God, so that He might be able to lovingly affirm, “Well done my good and faithful servant; you have remembered me, so I will remember you.”
#comeuntochrist, #prayer, #honor #timing, #remember, #fire, #pride
