If Psalm 37:4 is true, why hasn’t God answered my prayers?
I’ve asked this question a lot this year. The dialogue in my head was quite simple…
“I know the Bible is true, so what am not understanding?”
After 14 years of waiting and praying why hasn’t He answered my prayers??
I started to become desperate. I wanted to just throw the whole idea out. Completely forget about my dreams and start over.
I tried.
And I tried.
And I tried.
But one afternoon God laid it on my heart that He didn’t want me to throw away my desires. They are a part of me. A part of who I am.
I was also getting counsel, because the bible says,
Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety. – Proverbs 11:14
And for some reason, I went away from those meetings with the same impression,
“I need to let go of my desires and move on.”
However, today it dawned on me, weeks and months later, that they never said that.
Some of what they told me was:
- This is the day to rejoice – focus on today
- Be grateful
- Be Faithful where God has me now
- God would answer about 80% of my prayers concerning my desires, just maybe not in the way I was expecting.
- Pray for patience and faith
- Since I have been praying for years that God would change my desires to match His, I was encouraged not to throw the desires away.
So as I’ve thought on this question since April, Why doesn’t God give us our desires?, the truth dawned on me.
He is answering my prayers!
It really may be that it is just different than I was expecting. To be honest I don’t even know what I was expecting.
And He was answering slower than I was expecting! Probably why I was told to pray for patience…
If I really sat down and thought of everything that was going on in my life and lined it up with what I’ve prayed about, I guarentee I could come up with a whole list of things. Yes there are still things that may take more preparation or it’s not time yet, but looking at what He’s doing now, I’m sure He will continue to work.
Do you have any lingering desires?
I challenge you to seek counsel from older christians you trust. Really listen to what they say. Don’t twist anything or go away from the meeting wondering what was said. Write it down so the enemy can’t rail on you later. Ask them for prayer. Be honest with them. Dont be afraid to be vulnerable if you trust them. I have found its easier when people already know you before seeking counsel because they can understand a little better of where you are coming from.
And then really pay attention to what God says to you as well. (Make sure whatever you think He is saying lines up with scripture. God would never say anything that the Bible could not back up.) Not only was I twisting what my friends were saying, I was also twisting what God was saying. I don’t know how, but I was.
I was twisting what they said to make it line up with what I wanted them to say.
And it was because I was scared.
I was afraid God wouldn’t answer. So in a way to protect myself I decided it was best to avoid dissapointment – just throw it all away, get rid of it, move on, start over.
All the way up until the year 2020, I had plans on starting a girls horse ministry, but God changed all of that. Be Still and Run is now where my heart is. For how long, I do not know. We will see where God leads. As of right now, because my job is so physically demanding I haven’t really ran since April – tomorrow is December 1st.
However, I do plan on continuing to write. I miss blogging and have decided after much prayer, to continue to do so. This year has been a hard year for me. One full of challenges and questions. But as I am still and listen to what God has to say, I can rejoice in knowing that the Lord has it all under control and I can trust Him.
Love Ya’ll so much.
Don’t forget to Be Still and Run with God this week!
Be Still and Run 