Has your faith in God ever been shaken because He didn’t answer your prayers in a specific way? Have you ever doubted His love for you because you had to endure a painful trial? Many believers have.
Recently, God has been teaching me the same truth in several different ways. He must want to make sure I learn it. Here it is:
My faith must be in God and not in what I hope He will do for me.
Where is your faith?
In her amazing Bible study “Live a Praying Life,” Jennifer Kennedy Dean, Jennifer explains that many believers become discouraged with prayer because they have a misguided understanding of faith.
Many of us mistakenly think that faith is “believing real hard.” If we believe hard enough then God will do what we want Him to do. Heal our spouse. Save our friend. Provide a job. Then when things don’t turn out like we want our assumption is that God doesn’t care or that God doesn’t answer prayer.
The problem with this thinking is that we’ve put our “faith” in an outcome instead of in our all-knowing, all-powerful God. Jennifer clarifies the issue:
Faith is not knowing how God will bring His will into being; faith is knowing that God will bring His will into being.
Into a fiery furnace
Those three faithful friends – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – demonstrate what it looks like to have faith in God and not an outcome. When the Babylonian authorities ordered these Israelite captives to bow down and worship King Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue or be thrown in the fiery furnace, they put their faith firmly in God.
“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will no serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Daniel 3:17-18, NIV
These words grab my heart. They are one of the boldest declarations in all of Scripture. “Our God is able! But even if He does not…”
We place our faith in God and worship Him because He is God and He is able. Not because He will see fit to handle things the way we, in our limited understanding, think they should be handled.
Living by Faith
The “Hall of Faith” in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, further demonstrates this truth. We learn that some “escaped the edge of the sword” while others were “put to death by the sword.” Some “conquered kingdoms” and others faced “jeers and flogging.” Some “routed foreign enemies” and others were “chained and put in prison.”
The common denominator in every life described in Hebrews eleven was not the physical outcome of their situation. No, rather each life memorialized in this well-loved chapter placed unshakeable faith in God. However He chose to use their life to further His kingdom, their faith remained solid and safe in the Person of God.
What does this mean for you and me? We can stand firmly on the truth that God will carry out His purposes. They will not be thwarted. The temporary physical circumstances may not be what we would choose, but we can know that God is working. We can peacefully rest in His loving, protective arms and trust His outcome.
Have you ever found yourself putting your faith in an outcome rather than God? Share a time that you were discouraged because your prayers were not answered in the way you thought they should have been.
I would say it was the time when I prayed for dad’s healing. But God saw it fit to call him home. It took me 6 years to get over it, but I finally got it. God knew what was best for my dad and for the rest of our family.
The passage from Daniel 3 is very powerful and it never jumped out at me like it did in your post. Thank you for sharing the insight.
Thank you for sharing this Iris. I love how God’s Word applies to all our life situations. We can’t see God’s big, overall plan that He is working to fulfill His purposes. But we can trust Him!
When I asked for instant healing of my financial situation, like He is a “Banker”. I’d seen Him do it for other people. I expected Him to do it for me. NOT.
I’m learning that His ways include not doing things my way…..and that that’s ok…..
Carol, God can see the end from the beginning and what is absolutely best for us.We can’t! It’s a good thing He’s controlling things. I just have to learn to always trust in His way!
I was one of the early casualties of this recession. I was job hunting for several months. The verses I focused upon during that time was Proverbs 3: 5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths.” I am still learning to trust God more than in His response to my prayers, but then, it is a journey not a destination.
The lesson I am focused on right now is how to pray. As a mother and grandmother, sister and daughter; I pray for my family. But I have been feeling that I am being rather stingy with my prayers and need to broaden the list of those for whom I pray.
See you on Facebook, Kathy!
Leslie, thank you for sharing this. And you are so right about our faith being a journey. We will continue to learn and grow until we go to be with Jesus. As far as your prayers, it sounds like perhaps the Holy Spirit is prompting you to expand your intercession!
I took a spiritual gift survey about a year and a half ago and that is one of the gifts it listed. I am looking into ways to expand my intercession. I hadn’t really thought of it with that term however. Thank you for the encouragement!
Wonderful reminder. Too often we emotionally react instead acting out of obedience. In other words, we ask, “what will I get out of this?” rather than “what does God want me to do.” Being obedient requires faith—especially the type of faith that believes no matter the earthly outcome, God is still with us.
Thank you Kerry for coming by! You are so right, we humans often just want what we want. Thankfully, God always has our ultimate best in mind. And even if the road is difficult He is with us to help us through.
I was glad to come across your article. In my opinion “but even if he does not” are the six most important words in the Old Testament, and you explain why.
Parenthetically, I think “but I say” are the most important words in the New Testament, but that is a topic for another day, and I would like to see your thoughts on that.