God Answers Prayers

The other day, I had a very interesting conversation with someone about Jesus Christ. We serve in SGA together, and we are officers in our student organization, so we have gotten to know each other relatively well. We have talked about our faith before but only the typical questions: "so, are you religious? what religion are you?"... nothing too specific. We were both born and raised Baptists and have both been baptized.

Before our Phonetics test, I had put my face in my hands and bowed my head. I had taken time out and was praying for guidance, a calm mind, an easy test, patience and most of all, knowledge. Because she and I both knew I had studied and because I was aware of God's presence in my life, I think she was caught off guard. After I opened my eyes, she looked at me and said "were you just praying?". I replied yes and offered a smile. Later that night, she texted me and wanted to know why why I had prayed when it was so clear that God already knew the outcome of the test. In short, I told her: God is good all the time. All the time God is good. No matter what happened with that test (whether it was what I--with my selfish desires--wanted or not), God would be glorified. Praying was my way of thanking Him in advance for whatever He wanted to do with my life during that test, after that test, etc. And, it was a way of calming my fears by calling on my Savior. (FYI: It worked, as it ALWAYS does)

I obviously answered her in a much more concise manner, but I wanted to write about it here and get my thoughts out there for whoever reads my blog.

God answers prayers. Just not always in the way or in the time frame we want. God answers prayers, but the outcome we hope for, and beg God for, is not always the outcome God has in mind.

God hears our prayers. But God still does what He, in His sovereignty, is going to do. He listens to our prayers, hears us each and every time we speak to Him, think to Him, or even groan to Him. God is affected by our prayers and He wants us to pray.

But God is still God and our prayers do not change God or His mind, at least not in the way we sometimes think. He knew we were going to pray before we ever prayed. He knows the past, present and future all at once. God knew that that Phonetics test was going to be ridiculously hard. He knew that I would dread it; I knew that He wasn't about to show up and take the test for me. Nor was He going to magically make the questions answer themselves. That's not how God works. He listens to our prayers, but our prayers don't change things. God changes things.

Yet nothing changes for God, per se. If God changes His mind, because of our fervent prayers (Which He very well, might, so please keep praying!!), it will be something that God already knew would happen. He knew we'd pray. He knows if I am going to live a long life or die soon. He knows what grade I'll get in that annoying Phonetics class. We still should pray, still need to pray, but God knows what He is going to do already. And, even if we do storm Heaven on our own behalf, God still may choose to take us home to Heaven long before we seem ready to go. It is our job to communicate with God, to love Him, and, ultimately, to trust that whatever He decides is best.

Prayer is talking with God. We are to talk to God. If we love Him, and have a relationship with God, we will want to chat with Him, and tell Him how wonderful He is, and beseech Him with our requests.

And, in the end, God will do what God alone wants to do.

These can be hard thoughts to swallow, and even more difficult concepts to understand fully. And it gives me peace that I cannot fully understand God, or how prayer actually works, or what His will really is.

All I need to do is to know God. That is enough for me.

See, God is GOD. His ways are higher than mine. I am human, mortal, made of mere flesh and blood. Sure, I have the Holy Spirit living inside of me, and a very capable brain, but I am still made right now for this earth. It is impossible, literally actually honestly impossible, for me to ever (while still treading this earth that is not my ultimate home), understand God in the same way that I can understand a mathematical equation.

But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't keep praying to Him. That also doesn't mean that we might not want to rethink what a miracle really is. It's worth rethinking our concept of miracles performed by God.

So, yes, I prayed before I took that test even though I knew that God already the outcome long before I even knew I would be in speech pathology school last Wednesday. But, I strongly believe that that simple (and very private) prayer offered me a sense of reprieve from the panic that was inside my head. I needed to feel calm and at peace with my knowledge and know that no matter what, I would do the best I could. Praying did that for me. I knew that God was listening to me because as I said earlier, God hears our prayers and it is indeed our duty to talk to Him and call upon His name. As it turns out, the outcome of that Phonetics test was not what I wanted it to be. I rest easier know that it was in fact what God saw best. I'm learning every day how to live with that. God is God. I am not.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21