the other day, after an encouraging discussion about prayer, i felt something a bit foreign to me: confidence. not just in prayer, but in some of the things i've been wrestling with the most. but i'll start before that.
i've always known God can do anything--whatever He wants. i've always believed that even (pretty much . . . the whole thing with free will still confuses me a bit, as to how those work together). God's ability to answer prayer has never been the question for me.
the question: whether or not He will. not that i question His integrity, but how can i actually be sure that i'm praying for something in His will?
now wait . . . understand the question first, even though it sounds somewhat obvious.
generally, if something is Biblical, that's a pretty good indication that it's something God would want. and yet, lots of things happen all the time that aren't in His will. and even He does things He doesn't want, but out of necessity.
the purpose of everything is to glorify God. wouldn't it glorify God for every person on earth to be changed at a heart level to love Him? or for every lost or abused person in the world to be rescued? or for every broken person to be restored? ideally, but He also uses those horrible things to glorify Him more. even though none of those were His will to begin with. :/
and then there's free will. every single person on the planet making choices every instant, often to do whatever they want. how does God work in that? true, He did know every circumstance even before He set the world in motion. but how much can He work in a person before it jeopardizes their free will? or couldn't He manipulate circumstances to bring every person to submission before Him? or make people's hearts more inclined to choose Him of their own free will?
so in all this, how on earth am i supposed to have even an inkling of what God's will even is, or what would glorify Him the most, let alone if that's what i'm praying for? and if i can't be sure, how can i pray confidently??? double minded fool that i am . . .
obviously i have waaayyy more questions than answers. fun food for thought. but somewhere in there, i think i found the point.
confidence doesn't come from knowing for sure that God will answer a prayer with a "yes! absolutely!" it comes from knowing for sure that God will do what is best, and what will glorify Him. it's not a confidence in our circumstances, it's a confidence in His character. and yes, it's surrendering the things we doubt about the most, in faith that He really does know what He's doing.
the more i [think i?] understand the Bible, the more i realize that it's really not as complicated as it seems.
general agreement. additionally: i am pretty sure God is very okay with us asking for things in ignorance of the implications of our requests. He doesn't expect us to only ever pray correctly.
ReplyDeletefurther: Jesus said to ask God for our daily bread. does He always give every person their daily bread? if so, why ask for it? if not, why ask for it?!
the asking itself seems to be very important *regardless of the response.* this aligns super well with the idea (which i like very much) that prayer is meant first to nourish, & express from, & realign the heart of, the pray-er... and *second* to git 'er done.