Have you ever been told, “If God says ‘no’ to your prayer, it means He has something better for you?”
Has that answer always brought you comfort? Or … maybe even a bit more frustration? Be honest. If you’re in excruciating pain, you’re not really that interested in “something better.” All you want is RELIEF … NOW.
We sometimes think that if we were a bit more righteous or a tick more “on fire” for God, that He would always answer our prayers exactly as we pray them. After all, isn’t that considered to be a hallmark of “great faith?”
Don’t we hear of people of “great faith” that prayed for the dead to be raised—and they were? For tumors to drop off—and they did? For blind eyes to see, deaf ears to hear, lame limbs to straighten—and they were? Certainly, we can assume that it IS God’s will that we be in perfect, painless health at ALL times, right? Therefore, can’t we conclude that if our prayers for the sick, blind, deaf, and lame are answered with a “NO” … or met with no answer at all … that it’s probably OUR fault? That we apparently do NOT possess “great faith?” (Or great ENOUGH faith?)
If I may, I would say NO, we cannot make those assumptions.
Why? First, because evidence of faith is not always when God sees everything OUR way—but rather when we begin to see things GOD’s way. Not when He agrees with us—but when we agree with HIM. Not when we pray for our will to be done, but HIS. Can God do the miraculous if we ask? Yes! Absolutely! And He does! But, however He chooses to answer, it is never a question of God’s capability—but always a demonstration of His absolute authority.
Second, we often ask for things that were never promised to us. Life without pain—sun without rain. We want ease without difficulty, health without sickness, delight without discomfort, wholeness without brokenness, even life without death. We were never promised these things … at least not HERE, in this existence on earth.
When David commanded his own soul in Psalm 103 to “bless the LORD, and forget not all His benefits,” were those benefits promised in this temporal life? To have ALL our diseases healed? To be redeemed and free from iniquity? To be crowned by love and mercy?? We do enjoy some of these benefits, in part, but aren’t they rather promises for our ULTIMATE victory— not here, but in the hereafter?
Third, consider the faithful who died without getting their answers:
- Abraham, who died, still looking for a promised “city whose builder and maker was God”—
- Sarah, who died, never seeing the promised multiplied descendants—
- Rebekah, who died, never seeing Jacob’s face again—
- Job, who died, never knowing why he was made to suffer so—
- Moses, who died, never setting foot in the Promised Land—
- David, who died, never seeing his House for God built—
- John the Baptist, who died with questions still unanswered—
- Peter, who received the “keys to the Kingdom,” but died without seeing that kingdom come.
Consider the heroes of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11. “By faith, we understand” that many DID overcome and achieve great victory in their lives. But, it also lists those who “refused to be ransomed so that they would gain a better resurrection.” (v.35). Indeed, “others underwent the trials of being mocked and whipped, chained and imprisoned … stoned, sawed in two, murdered by the sword … destitute, persecuted, mistreated, wandering about in deserts and mountains, living in caves and holes in the ground!” (Hebrews 11:36-38 CJB)
What about them? The writer says, “The world was not worthy of them!” (v. 38) Didn’t they all have “great faith?” Indeed they DID! “These all died in faith, (though) not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were (STILL!) persuaded of them, and embraced them …” (Hebrews 11:13 KJV)
“These ALL, (though) having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11:39-40 KJV)
For some, all they got was “a good report,” not a perfect life. Not a long life. Can we expect MORE? The ultimate answer to their prayers was not given to them, so that some better thing would come LATER when we—ALL of us—would ultimately share in it.
Author Ed Elliott wrote: “Great faith isn’t about how much biblical knowledge you have or how much scripture you can memorize and recite. It is simply knowing how good God is. Jesus identified only two people in His earthly ministry who He said had great faith; a Roman centurion (Matthew 8:5–13) and a Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21–28). Both of these people were outside of the covenant God had made with Israel. Yet, they understood something that the Pharisees, Sadducees and Jewish nation could not see or comprehend, that God was a good God!”
So what can we conclude?
When we believe GOD, knowing that He is sovereign and that He is good … trusting Him through whatever trials or tribulations He chooses for us toward some better thing … then it can be said of us that we have “great faith.”
“Wherefore … IN THIS NEW YEAR … seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, (including all those who have previously suffered even IN faith) LET US:
- lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and
- run with patience the race that is set before us,
- looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the JOY that was set before HIM (some BETTER thing!) endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2 KJV)
Take heart, weary pilgrim! Be not discouraged in your faith! Some better thing is just ahead … and, as those who have already gone to Heaven would testify, “it’s gonna be worth it ALL!”
