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Good thoughts!
And sometimes what we pray for is not what we need and that reminds me of a Garth Brooks song…
I thank God for unanswered prayers,
Remember when you’re talking to the Man upstairs,
And just because He may not answer doesn’t mean He don’t care.
Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.
I can think of few in my life. One being “Change my husband” when it was me that needed to change first.
Daisymae,
YES!!!!
I was thinking exactly of this myself, in fact, I talked about the greatest blessing being that God said, “No,” to some of my prayers. If God had changed my husband without changing me first, where would I be spiritually now? And if He had given me the boy I was sure I should marry when I was 12… Oh my. It would have been a total disaster.
God’s “No” answer is always motivated by love for our good. It is exactly the same as when I tell my children not to touch a hot stove or run into the street. They don’t like it when I say, “No,” sometimes, but when someone is asking to do something destructive, the loving thing is to not let them do that thing!
Much love! I am so blessed to be on this amazing journey with you. I never get tired of watching God work in people’s lives!
Sometimes the worst thing God could possibly do – for our ultimate spiritual good – would be to give us the things we are asking for if we are in a state of sin or unbelief.
FROM MY OWN EXPERIENCE:
If God had changed Greg before He changed me – I would not have had to face my own sins. I would not have realized what a wretched sinner I was and I would have continued to try to find contentment in other things. I would not have had to look at my pride, my lack of faith, my idolatry, my unbelief, my rebellion against God, my spiritual poverty, or anything painful or difficult in my life.
How I PRAISE GOD now for those many years of trials. How thankful I am now that He didn’t give me what I wanted, but had me sit in that painful place until He opened my eyes and empowered me to come to Him in real faith. I would still be in my sin if He had not had the mercy and grace to bless me by NOT giving me the things I wanted so much for all those years.
His greatest goal for me is for me to know, love, trust, and obey Him. That is how He is most glorified in my life. That is how I will find all of His best for my life. Sometimes God allows me to sit in my pain until I am willing to turn to Him. It would not be a gift for him to immediately grant answers to the prayers for the things I want if my heart is not changed and regenerated by the power of His Spirit and I am still putting those things above Him in my soul. He wanted me to be still long enough for me to allow Him to tear out all the toxic cancer and junk in my life and to begin to replace it all with Himself, His Word, His power, and His truth. That part is VERY PAINFUL! But this is how He gives us new life in Christ.
I personally had to get to the place were I decided to obey and trust God whether Greg ever changed or not. When I began this journey, Greg was totally shut down. He would barely look at me, barely listen to me, didn’t want to talk with me, didn’t want to touch me most of the time. It was from that place that I had to say, “God, I want to learn to respect and honor Greg as the head of this family whether he ever becomes more loving or not. Whether he changes or not, I want to do this Your way. I will wait right here on You until I am 80 years old if I have to. But I don’t want to move another step without You and Greg directing me.”
I had to stop praying for God to change Greg and start praying for God to change me. That is where my power began!
He is the Greatest Treasure. He will allow me to go through trials at times so that I might grow in my faith and complete dependence on Him until I understand that if I have Him, I have EVERYTHING that matters. I must come to the place where I am willing to be content with Christ alone, even if nothing else ever changed in my circumstances. Then, I am able to begin to see what really matters to God and what is ultimately important in light of eternity. Then I can begin to lay down my will and seek only His will. Then, when I am seeking to fully trust Him, I begin to experience His supernatural peace and joy. In His timing, I begin to see Him move mountains. But my faith and trust and my total dependence on Him and my ability to find contentment in Him alone come first. There is much waiting as my faith grows stronger before I see Him move the mountains.
If my motives are that I mostly just want my circumstances to change and I want to use God as means to an end – to get what I really want – things of this world – I will stay very, very stuck in misery and defeat.
Thankfully, God offers us the choice to trust Him so that we can have victory over sin and defeat. We don’t have to stay stuck anymore!
I will pray for you, my precious sister! And for your husband. The enemy is the only one who wants things to continue as they have been. I am really glad you are praying right now – there is no greater power!