06/04/2020
When we wait upon God to answer our prayers do we think He is idly biding His time while we suffer and fret needlessly? Do we think that God suddenly responds when He is good and ready by doing this thing in one sweeping gesture? Well God’s ways are not ours, and His plans for us are intricate. To answer our one simple prayer causes Him to realign the stars that shine around the world... the ripple of His changed plan is felt far and wide. Yet He loves us this much.
“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”
Proverbs 16:9 ESV
It is a common theme in science fiction writing, and movies, for someone to want to go back in time to change a single event that would remove some pain they encountered, or save the life of someone they loved. It is also common in such tales for them to return to the future to find that the world they once knew no longer exists; it has been changed dramatically by their meddling. This makes for an interesting thought, but it happens in reality everyday as God hears the prayers of His people, and changes the future of all creation in some way. This happened when Moses pleaded for the lives of the Israelites when they were found worshipping a golden calf...
“And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.”
Exodus 32:14 ESV
and it happens for us.
When I was a teenage boy I was on a camping trip with my Boy Scout troop at a lake. It was a fun weekend and we swam for hours each day. There was a large floating platform in the middle of the lake and we would swim out to it, rest, and then swim back. Late one afternoon I had been doing just that, and became tired so I told my friends that I was returning to camp. I jumped into the water and began to swim the distance to shore, but as I did so I became exhausted and began to sink down into the lake... I was drowning. As I drifted into the darkness, and I felt the cold water, I was suddenly filled with an incredible feeling, and surrounded by the presence of the Lord. Much happened at that point, but suffice it to say I was saved from drowning, and the next thing I knew... I was wading onto the shore, tired, but with no water in my lungs. At that moment in the lake God changed the natural course of the world. By all natural laws I should have died, and none of the impacts that I have since had on people, or the world should have ever happened... no loves, no children, no relationships, no dreams, no prophecies, and no devotionals. The world, and God’s plan for it, would have followed another course. I spent many years wondering why I was saved that day; what about me was worth His changing the natural progression of creation? I came to understand that God’s plans for us are more than just physically natural, they are spiritually supernatural, and He intervenes in creation all the time. Most of the time, like in my instance, they aren’t grand, but sometimes He does so boldly... as with Daniel in the Lion’s den...
“As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.””
Daniel 6:20-22 ESV
So God changes the world for us in answered prayer. Perhaps He will save your life, and reinsert you into the world, or maybe it will be the life of a loved one... He makes changes, but they always conform to the flow of His will. God saved Isaac, but the sacrifice was made.
“But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.”
Genesis 22:11-13 ESV
Then again God might answer a prayer that changes how we walk on the earth by taking you from a poor man, and making you wealthy, removing the disease from a friend with cancer, or giving a crippled child strong and straight legs. All these are miracles that change the course of the natural world... and He does this for you, and me.
“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”
1 John 5:14-15 ESV
So we wait, and sometimes we become frustrated with how long it takes for God to respond to us. We call this “the silence of God”, but although our ears don’t hear creation changing... it is happening. Sometimes it is the sound of God preparing you give us our heart’s desire, but at other times it might be the sound of Him bringing us into conformance with His desire... His will, and His character. Regardless, much is happening when we pray, and natural creation will never be the same again as a result. God alters all of His creation... just for you. Let’s give the Glory to God!
“But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”
While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?”
Acts 3:6, 11-12 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for answered prayer, and for loving us so much that you would change heaven and earth at hearing a single righteous word of prayer from our lips. Thank you for answering by giving us our desire, and thank you for those times when you answer by opening our eyes as you change our will to reflect yours. We thank you Holy Father for your constant action on our behalf, and we pray that as we wait on you we will be faithful enough to see the slightest movement of your hand, and praise you with each breath we breathe as we wait. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God whose Word is true, and whose love for us is complete. Praised be your name as you answer our prayers, and move on our behalf when we don’t know enough to utter a prayer, or on the words of the Holy Spirit when we don’t know the words to speak. Great are you who weaves our lives into the fabric of creation, and then redesigns it time and time again in response to the prayers of your children, and your unending wisdom. We worship you Father as we strive to align our will with yours, and learn to perfect each lesson in faith that you teach us. Your mercy and grace poured out on us from the vessel of Jesus Christ knows no end, and we thank you for the redemption and cleansing that He provides us, and for the change that each new believer brings to the future of the world... your plan, and your action, change, but your will for us remains steady and true... now and forevermore.
Rich Forbes