Have you ever asked God for something you really, really wanted? I’m talking about the type of desire in your heart that goes so deep it consumes all your thoughts. A desire that seems to take top priority in all your prayers. It’s that one thing that you’re sure if God would just answer this request, your life would fall perfectly into order. I know I sure have. What do we do with desires like these and prayers like these?
Well, we know that if the desire falls in line with God’s will, we can be confident that our prayers will be answered, and we can know whether or not they fall in line with God’s will by lining them up against the Word of God, the Bible. If our desire falls outside the teachings of the Bible or are contrary to those teachings, then our desires are outside the will of God. God won’t answer prayers that are outside His will.
But I have noticed something else about the way God uses the promises in His Word in answering our prayers for these deep, godly desires He has placed within our hearts. God’s view is always bigger!
Yes, I know. You’re probably thinking, “Duh!” I mean doesn’t the Bible tell us (Isaiah 55: 8-9) that God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts?! Of course it does. But have you ever really mediated on what that means? I typically hear this verse trotted out whenever we are looking for comfort when things aren’t going our way or when we can’t see yet the end of the trial. Then someone at church will trot this verse out as if it somehow explains everything. Personally, I never found it to be very comforting in those circumstances. But I am beginning to see another nuance to this verse.
Let’s take a look at Sarah. Sarah was married to Abraham, a mighty man of faith who followed God even when he didn’t really know who God was or where God was leading him. Can you imagine? Your husband comes home one day talking about how God has spoken to him–some new God that you have never heard of before and not one of the ones your neighbors know and worship–and he tells you this God wants you to pack everything up and move to a new place. Where? you might ask. And the answer you get is: I don’t know yet. I’ll know when we get there. Oh, man….I am not sure I would have been a good wife right then. In fact, I can almost guarantee I would not have been.
And what Sarah longs for more than anything else in the entire world is a child. Now, she knows that this desire is in line with God’s will because God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. There is nothing outside the will of God in asking for a child. God even gives her a promise about this child in a conversation He has with Abraham. So Sarah has this promise. She will have a child. It’s a guarantee. But I don’t think it takes much of an imagination to picture Sarah focused on that single child she has pictured in her heart for all these years. The thing is that while Sarah has this promise and has to go through the actual waiting period to see its fulfillment (25 years!!!), we have the rest of the Bible. Yes, God promised Sarah a child just like she wanted, but God’s view of that was so much bigger. When God gave Sarah the promise of Isaac, He already had in mind the nation of Israel and the birth of Jesus Christ! I think that’s a small portion of what it means when He tells us that His thoughts are so much higher than ours. Can you imagine what Sarah might have thought had she known how big that simple promise of a child would turn out to be?
It’s the same with the life of King David. David desired to serve God. The Bible says He was a man after God’s own heart. And God gave David a promise as well–that he would always have a descendant on the throne as king. Now David may have had in mind any number of his sons–even Solomon who took the throne after him. But God? God had in mind the Kingdom of Heaven coming to earth–first, in Jesus as Savior, and later in Jesus as the returned King of Kings! How huge is that promise? David, you will always have a son to sit on the throne, and what I mean by that is that one day I will restore the earth to the way I created it to be just because you were obedient to me!
I see it in my own life right now. The night my husband walked away, I was crying out to God. I knew that God was for my marriage. God hates divorce! He hates seeing families ripped apart by sin. There was no way that my children being in foster care and my husband choosing to walk away were a part of God’s plan for my life! No way at all! And in that moment of asking God why this was happening, I was stopped short mid-sob by a whisper: I will restore! At first, I wasn’t sure I had heard correctly. But I believe that was God’s Word on the matter. He will restore.
At first, I thought this meant He would bring my husband home and save our marriage. That hasn’t happened yet. I don’t have that part of the promise fulfilled as I sit here typing this, but let me tell you what I HAVE seen. I have had God rekindle dreams in my life that I had set aside when I was a teenager. I have seen Him breathe life into gifts I haven’t used in a very long time. I thought God’s promise meant my marriage and only my marriage because that was my focus, but God’s promises always include so much more than what our focus is on.
God IS restoring! He’s restoring my marriage, yes, but He’s also restoring me. He is awakening the gifts He put in me. He is calling me to pick up the assignments He planned for me from the beginning of time. David writes in the Psalms how all are days are recorded in God’s book! and Paul tells us that God has prepared works for us to do! He has restored my faith. He has restored my hope. He has restored my joy. He is in the process of restoring my finances. I didn’t even have that on my radar when I was begging God for a promise! He is working on restoring my relationships in other arenas. The promise is so much bigger!
And that’s how it always is with God. We see such a small sliver of what He sees. We think we will be happy if we can get this one little request (or maybe not so little), but God sees how it all fits into His design for our entire life and all the lives that our life will touch for His glory!
What are you asking God for today? What promise are you standing on right now as you wait for God to fulfill your request? Are your eyes open for how much bigger God’s plans might be as He answers your prayers? I hope they are because I can guarantee that if you look for those everyday miracles, it will make the waiting a bit easier.
A Beautiful Mess 