Questions You Wanted to Ask - One

by Monica Hernandez

We cannot deny that throughout our lives, perplexing issues arise in our everyday living and we find ourselves faced with questions about God, the Bible, and life in general.

Over the years, I have been asked many questions during my Bible classes, circa 1984 - 2002, also in response to my radio broadcast "The Revealing Word." I am sharing these with the hope that the answers given will inspire you further on the topic in question. Maybe, in your heart, you have some questions too.

The questions and answers are many and will be given in a series, not necessarily every week but as time permits to retrieve them from the archives and present them to you. And to each question and answer, appropriate Scriptures are suggested for your reading and meditation.

Keep visiting this blog often, and feel free to make some comments and ask some questions as well. You might ask your questions either by posting in the comment section on the post or contacting me directly at: monica@newvisionministry.org.

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This one comes from a listener to "The Revealing Word" after a given message on trusting God.

Question:
I prayed to God about a business transaction and the Lord told me the direction I should take but that turned out to be not at all favourable. How can I trust Him in the future?

Answer:
I am sorry to hear things did not work out well or at least in the way you expected them to. I do not have all the answers to God’s ways and His thoughts but I do know that He answers prayer, even if that answer is: “No” with or without an explanation.

At other times, not only do we not get answers but things go awry - the opposite way. However, there has to be a lesson or two you learned from it that can be helpful to you in the future. Even when things do not work out the way we want, God never leaves us empty-handed. He gives us counsel in some way, shape or form that helps us.

God promises to answer our prayers, but many times our problem is that we pray amiss, not in the will of God (not in rightness of thinking) and answers to prayer are either seemingly unanswered or delayed, or the answers go totally the other way. These are the times we have to question ourselves about the validity of our prayers.

Another thing of importance, did you really hear from God? Sometimes we think we hear from God and we have only heard from ourselves and begin to act on those directives. It is not every answer we get from within is correct and some causes for that can be that we pray without a focus - just aimlessly. At other times an unfavourable answer is because we pray amiss and receive not, meaning sometimes our prayers are contrary to God’s truth and fairness to other people.

To pray well, it must be in the revealed directives of God and in humility for a contrite and humble heart God will not despise for He is good and His mercy endures forever. Also, we must have our prayers dominated by the Spirit for we know not how to pray as we ought.

Nevertheless, your disappointment should not prevent you from reaching out to God again in faith after examining yourself concerning your prayer request. Ask yourself whether your request is legally and morally right and that the expected answer is fair to you and others concerned. And again, trust him to deliver.

Suggested Readings: Jeremiah 29:11; James 4:3.

Thought for Today: God hears and answers prayer.