It’s easy to get focused on what we can see and what we desire. It’s easy for our prayers to be influenced by what we understand, our human wisdom. I think that’s why there are so many people who insist their prayers haven’t been answered. The prayers were relying so much on human wisdom and understanding of the situation that anything other than the perfect formula demanded by the person praying is considered their prayer being unanswered. However, this denies the fact that God’s wisdom is greater than any human understanding.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. 1 Corinthians 1:25
New English Translation
Scripture lays it out for us, our wisdom is nothing compared to God’s. We can’t see the full journey from the current to the future. We can’t see how what we requested, in the way we requested it, would actually affect our futures. We are unable to see the positive and the negative of it all. God, however, is able to see not just the desired outcome but the reality of how that action would turn out and affect the future. He has the understanding and wisdom we could only dream of.
When we realize that God can see what we cannot, that opens us up to what He can do. Instead of insisting that we know the right way for our prayer to be answered, we’re able to accept it when He answers our prayers in a way different than what we initially thought should be the answer. Then, we’re able to trust God’s wisdom and see how He is moving through our prayers.
I think one of the biggest areas that I’ve seen this difficulty arise is healing prayer. So often people insist that their vision of what healing would look like is the best option. Yet, not always is that the case. Sometimes, God heals a part now and is giving the individual an opportunity to be faithful with the little healing they already received.
The saddest part is when a Christian dies and their family is angry because they insist God did not answer their prayers for healing. However, healing does not necessarily have to occur on this earth. There is no pain or suffering in heaven. When God takes a beloved home, He is truly healing them and relieving them from the suffering this earth holds. He sees what pain is in the future, He sees what that individual would have gone through if He didn’t bring them home. Being escorted to heaven is God’s protection and relief for that person because He sees what they’ve already been through and what was to come.
He hears our prayers, cares about what we care about. He cares about our preferences, but He also knows what the best choice is. He’s not going to compromise your future just because you believe that what you requested is the best option. His wisdom is greater than yours. Trust that He sees beyond what you see. Rather than being upset the next time a prayer is not answered exactly the way you dreamed, ask God to help you see how He answered your prayer in His wisdom.
Gratitude should not be limited to when things go the way that we dream they would. Gratitude should be all the time simply because we know that God is good. Remember, He is the good in our lives, not what He does for us, though those things are nice. We don’t live for God because of what we can get from Him. We live for God because we want to love Him back well. When we keep that perspective, it becomes so much easier to accept His answers to prayers, even when they don’t look the way we wanted them to.