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To Accept God’s Will As The Answer To Prayer

Jacob, after wrestling with God, held on to Him and would not let go until He blessed him. That is persistence, holding on until he gets an answer. God blessed him. (Gen 32:22-32)

When David pleaded with God for his child who became ill, David fasted and laid on the ground for seven days. David showed his persistence and knew that only God can help him.

On the seventh day, he was informed that the child had died. Immediately, David arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, changed his clothes and went into the house of the Lord and worshipped God. Then he went to his own house and had a feast and ate.

Surprised by the behavior of David whom the servants thought that he should be mourning instead, David was very positive knowing that he cannot see his child again that he must continue living.

Certainly, David had asked God to heal the child but as he left the discretion to God, the eventual answer was that David will have to be separated from the child. David accepted the answer. (I Kings 12:15-23)

Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane prayed that the bitter cup of death be removed from Him but “not as I will but as You will.” (Matt 26:36-39). The eventual result was that Jesus had to taste the bitter cup and accepted the will of God, to die on the cross for the sins of the world.

When I had to face a major examination and had committed to God that I will seek His will for the results of that examination, I hung on to His promises to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” (Prov 3:5-6). I had expected to fare well in that examination but at the end of the day, I discovered to my horror that I had failed. I was crushed. But I learnt to move on and trust in God with ALL my heart and not look at the hopeless situation around me then. God directed my paths and gave me greater success than I could hope for over these years.

You see, the answer from God is always His will, His discretion and never what we may think of and hope for. We may not understand why at that point in time but it is always the best. As in the case of David and Jesus, you can see that God has His way of doing things. The important thing here to learn is to ACCEPT the answer, especially when it is not what we had hoped for.

The answer to our prayers is that God had acted on our petition. That’s the important thing, that we look to God as the just judge and to accept the outcome of His decision taken at His discretion. That is His will for us.

Let us pray always and not lose heart. Let us learn to accept that the answer to our prayers will always be the best for us and is left at the discretion of our God, just and loving. If the unjust judge can relent and avenge for the widow, how much more will our Just Judge, our Father in Heaven, listen to our petition and prayers and answer them for our benefit?

What more can we hope for except to persist in prayer and move God with our prayers and to rest in Him so that His will be done in our lives.

PRAY AND NOT LOSE HEART for God is our JUST JUDGE.