Unanswered Prayers

I was in the car with my sister yesterday, when she introduced me to the Garth Brooks song “Unanswered Prayers’. Basically, the song is about a guy who falls for a girl in High School. He continuously prayers that the girl would be his, but it doesn’t happen and seems that God didn’t answer his prayer. Years pass and he is happily married to another woman,when he runs into his high school crush. After seeing her again he realises that he is happy that God didn’t answer his prayer.  He realises she wasn’t the woman for him, and is much happier with his wife. He is thankful that God didn’t grant him the wishes and desires of his youth, God had something better planned.

I know that God always hears my prayers, yet at times it feels like they go unanswered. My desires, longings, hopes and dreams now, may differ in years to come. Even though I think they are what’s best for me and what I really want, God ultimately knows different.

It may be a relationship that ended, or one that never even began, an acceptance to your first choice college that didn’t arrive, a work promotion that you didn’t get. You pray continuously for these things and yet they seem to go unanswered. God isn’t ignoring them, he’s just saying ‘No’ or ‘Not yet’. He’s saying that He knows best and to trust Him because He has something far better planned. We may be devastated to be told no now, but in years to come we can be so thankful for the seemingly unanswered prayers.

” ‘For I know the plans I have for you’, declares the Lord ‘Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ ” – Jeremiah 29 v 11

 

 

Hope in a future husband or hope in God?

‘Have you decided what you’re going to do when you leave?’ The question that makes every undergrad student tremble with fear. How do you tell people, after three years of study and countless debt, you have no better idea than when you left school? For me, I found the best way to skirt around the subject was to make some witty comment of how I was going to ‘marry rich’. By the end of my third year I had perfected this strategy and most people assumed I was obsessed with marriage. (Which just to clarify, I’m not…)

Did I mean it? Not really, but did I think that marriage would somehow solve the problem? I guess part of me did.  As a girl in her early twenties marriage can seem to offer protection, stability and security. Worrying over the prospect of unemployment seemed less daunting if there was a man in the picture. I hear feminists shudder…’this is a totally archaic reaction’ you may say, and yes you’re probably right, it’s not exactly in keeping with today’s independent woman. Yet, I doubt my feelings are unique, I know many other young women who feel the same way. Are we putting our hope in the wrong thing? In the wrong man?

A while ago, I posted this by John Piper ‘A Christian woman does not put her hope in her husband or in getting a husband…She puts her hope in the promises of God.’ It’s something that I’ve been thinking about for a while. Where does my hope lie? In finding a husband? In finding the perfect job? Being financially secure?

Ruth is a great example of a young woman putting her faith and hope in God. Life for a young widow would have been extremely hard during this time. Women were heavily reliant on the men in their lives to be their providers and protectors. Life without a male family member would be hard for both Ruth and Naomi. Did Ruth put her hope in finding a husband? No, she didn’t stay in Moab to marry again, she left the home she knew for a foreign land. She left the prospects of marriage, a husband, a family because she had faith in God.

‘Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me – even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons –  would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them?’ – Ruth 1: 11-13

Ruth was determined to go with Naomi, determined to live and worship with God’s people. Trusting God to provide for them rather than putting her hope in a future husband her hope was in God.

There is nothing wrong with desiring provision, security, protection but are we putting our hope in relationships or is our hope in God the perfect provider, the perfect protector.

God has a better offer

Just a quick extract from Max Lucado’s ‘Just like Jesus’ – 

 ‘When my daughter was a toddler, I used to take her to a park not far from our apartment. One day as she was playing in a sandbox, an ice-cream salesman approached us. I purchased her a treat, and when I turned to give it to her, I saw her mouth was full of sand. Where I had intended to put a delicacy, she had put dirt.Did I love her with dirt in her mouth? Absolutely. Was she any less of my daughter with dirt in her mouth? Of course not. Was I going to allow her to keep the dirt in her mouth? No way. I loved her right where she was, but I refused to leave her there. I carried her over to the water fountain and washed out her mouth. Why? Because I love her.God does the same for us. He holds us over the fountain. “Spit out the dirt, honey,” our Father urges. “I’ve got something better for you.” And so he cleanses us of filth; immorality, dishonesty, prejudice, bitterness, greed. We don’t enjoy the cleansing; sometimes we even opt for the dirt over the ice cream. “I can eat dirt if I want to!” we pout and proclaim. Which is true—we can. But if we do, the loss is ours. God has a better offer.’

 

 

 

The Deepest Root of Womanhood: Hope in God

 

‘  A Christian woman does not put her hope in her husband, or in getting a husband. She does not put her hope in her looks. She puts her hope in the promises of God. She is described in Proverbs 31:25: “Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.” She laughs at everything the future will bring and might bring, because she hopes in God. She looks away from the troubles and miseries and obstacles of life that seem to make the future bleak, and she focuses her attention on the sovereign power and love of God who rules in heaven and does on earth whatever he pleases. She knows her Bible, and she knows her theology of the sovereignty of God, and she knows his promise that he will be with her and help her strengthen her no matter what. This is the deep, unshakable root of Christian womanhood.’ – John Piper. ©2012 Desiring God