- God is not answering my prayers.
- Things are not working in my life the way I would like.
- Things are not fair.
Some people have a notion that God is not answering their prayers if things are not easy and the way they want them to be in their lives.
This post examines how God can be working behind the scenes when though your life is not going the way you think it should be. If your thoughts are like any of the above three statements here are some other things to think about in response.
Does God Answer Prayers?
1. God is not answering my prayers and I am a Christian.
You might re-examine what you are asking for in your prayer. The re-examination is for the purpose of evaluating if it coincides with what God would want for you. (How to determine this is another post). A striking difference is that humans are focused on things for their daily life and God is focused on eternity. Perhaps what you are asking for is something God determined will not be in your best interest in the long term.
For example if you are asking for a new, glamorous automobile remember that God is omniscient. He might know you will be reckless and hurt someone or it will cost you money that could go somewhere else.
2. Things are not working in my life the way I would like.It is a general Christian belief that you are where you need to be for God's plan for you to unfold. Christians believe that things are unfolding the way God wants them to. This is true, even if you do not understand how it could be.
God has his own chosen people (the Jews) walk in the desert for forty years for disobedience. God might or might not respond to your situation in a similar manner. Also, many people you might look at as historical figures failed many times before becoming famous; i.e. Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, the Beatles, Albert Einstein.
There is also a useful lesson from the punishment God gave Adam and Eve for disobedience. One was to toil by the sweat of your brow until you go back to the earth. The lesson is that time of this earth might seem futile, but there is a reason for that. God wants you to have some drudgery so you look for your fulfillment beyond the earth. That is a way God, in his infinite wisdom, uses the bad to work for the good.
3. Things are not fair.
Some Patriarchs and Prophets in the Old Testament might have thought the same thing. They suffered. The Jews, who were God's chosen people, did not have an easy life, either. Humans are only aware of part of the picture on earth and it might not look good. If you remember the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus in the Gospel Of Luke things did not look good at the time for Lazarus, either. The significance lies in how the story ends, and few people would want to be the Rich Man in the afterlife. Many questions will not be answered until the Age To Come.
The Bright Side
From everystockphto.com via Flickr
You could take consolation in the description of the "New Jerusalem" in the Book Of Revelations. One characteristic of the Age To Come is that there is no more injustice. Isn't that amazing?Behold the word Gospel means good news.
Beware of despair and examine these things first.
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So, Should You Think There Is A God?
Author: Albert Wagner
