Sometimes I can’t help but wonder why God doesn’t answer all prayers the same way. I wonder why I see one prayer answered the same day I prayed it and yet another prayer left unanswered for a long time. I have realized that God’s timetable is not mine. He has a different perspective than I do; where I can’t always see the ways God is working, He says that He is always at work around me (John 5:17).
One of the beautiful things about God is that He entertains our questions and understands our impatience because He is the One who made us. Psalm 103:14 says God knows our frame; He remembers we are only human. Hebrews 4:15 says that Jesus can empathize with us because He knows what it’s like to be human. God realizes we have a small capacity to understand His ways, but by His Spirit He graciously enables us to understand His nature more fully the more we spend time with Him.
Have you experienced a time when you asked God similar questions? Friend, I don’t know what you are going through, but I want to validate your feelings because they are real to you. However, I also want to speak the truth of Jesus into your situation and present with you a reason to hope, even in the midst of pain, struggle, and trial. The God we know and serve has His full attention on you and cares more deeply for you than any human ever could. He wants to meet you right now with the truth of His Word that promises to set you free (John 8:32).
Romans 5 reminds us of the power of the gospel. Paul begins this chapter by explaining that, because of what Christ has done for us on the cross, we are declared fully righteous when we place our faith in Him. We no longer stand in our past or our shame, but we stand firm in God’s grace because of the blood of Jesus (Romans 5:1–2).
Rather than allowing our circumstances to define us, we instead have the opportunity to rejoice in the hope of an everlasting future with God. In Christ, we have the supernatural power to rejoice in our earthly sufferings as they strengthen us, grow us, and allow us to fix our minds on the hope we have in Christ (Romans 5:3–4). God loved us so much that He sacrificed His Son for us when we were still sinning and running away and hiding our faces from Him (Romans 5:6–8).
This is the simple and yet magnificent reason we can rejoice always, for Christ has saved our lives and restored our friendship with God by means of His blood (Romans 5:11). Jesus is the Way we can still rejoice in the battle, the Truth that we stand on when the enemy throws lies at us, and the Life that we can receive each day (John 14:6).
I pray that you might know how deeply God cares for you and how He is walking with you through this current season. The proof is in His blood shed for you when you least deserved it. Oh, how He has deemed you worth it.
Recently, I have been praying desperately for someone very close to me and I have yet to see the complete healing that I long to see God work in their life. But even while I wait for my prayers to be answered, (although the Lord could be answering them even now in ways that I can not see quite yet) God’s character allows me to rejoice. This is because His character is steadfast even when my circumstances are not.
Since I have placed my faith in Jesus, I get to live in the assurance that this sinful world is not my home. I have someone going before me who is preparing a place for me, and His name is Jesus (John 14:1–4).
I pray that we grow to have the perspective of Jesus, who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God as something to be grasped, but came to earth to be a servant (Philippians 2:6–8); who resolutely made His way to Jerusalem to complete His mission of love (Luke 9:51); who pleaded that the cup be taken from Him in the garden of Gethsemane, but at last, said to God, “Your will be done” (Matthew 26:42); who said in the presence of His transgressors, “Forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).
Jesus never lost sight of His focus or His purpose. May we diligently fix our eyes on Him and have His same attitude and resolve as we walk on this earth (Hebrews 12:2–3). May we develop the deep perspective of Jesus, who told His disciples not to fear even though they would indeed face trouble, for God has already overcome the world (John 16:33).
Friend, in Christ, you have been given the mind of Christ, and you have the power to fix your eyes not on what you can see but what you can not see. May you dwell on the things of heaven and choose to remember the hope of being resurrected with Christ one day and dwelling in His house of perfection forever.
Week 3 Challenge:
This week is all about praying boldly. What is something in your life that needs bold prayer? How can you take a step of faith and boldly take your prayer requests to God?
Week 3 Reading Plan:
Week 3 Memory Verse:
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