Last week we talked about “faith, hope, and love” in Hebrews 10, and I shared a few of my personal answers to prayer.
I also told you that sometimes God answers our prayers by saying “not yet” or “no” or even “not that but something else,” much like my own earthly father.
In answer to prayer, I’m prostate cancer-free, but the radiation did some damage and now I know where every bathroom in South Georgia is located. My cancer is gone, but neither my diabetes nor my macular degeneration have been healed.
Wife Mary Ella’s leg healed after a bone break, but she still has some balance problems after relearning to walk and she has AFIB.
God does answer our prayers, but we still struggle with the aftermath of both our answered and our unanswered ones.
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
— Hebrews 11: 1
Faith is trusting God’s promises even when they aren’t yet realized, because God is not our servant. God is our Creator and our Lord, and we take our directions from him.
I’ve found that my answered prayers enable my faith in spite of my unanswered prayers, and I can live with my unanswered prayers because of my answered prayers.
“Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe he exists and he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
— Hebrews 11: 6
Faith (trust) is essential for a relationship with God, because “without faith (trust) it is impossible to please God.”
Now the question becomes, “Do I trust God when my prayers are answered? And the critical question is, “Do I trust God even when my prayers are unanswered?
One man answered, “Yes!”
He was often sick as a baby, small and puny all his life, frail and delicate as a young man. Unable to serve his congregation as a pastor, he lived with only one complaint — the poor quality of the hymns being sung. A friend challenged him to quit complaining unless he could write better hymns, so he did.
When he died in 1748, he left behind more than 600 hymns, most of them about praise. And in the coming weeks, we’ll sing one of the best-known hymns by Isaac Watts — “Joy to the World!” A closing prayer:
“Lord, as a people of faith, we are standing on the shoulders of the people of faith named and unnamed in Hebrews 11, in Jesus’ name, amen!”
Charles “Buddy” Whatley is a retired United Methodist pastor serving Dawson Street Methodist Church in Thomasville, Ga.
