The Answered Prayers You Don't See - Friday Praise & Pray (for others) April 7, 2023

Many of us have been praying for things for years and feel like God is taking a long time answering our requests. As tough as the experience is, this is scriptural. After all, David waited over a decade from being anointed king to actually taking the throne. The Book of Psalms is full of His prayers begging God to keep him safe during that waiting period.

But what if I told you that there are times when we think God hasn't answered our prayers but He actually has? You just frowned slightly. You don't believe that you'd ever miss the answer to your prayers if God had answered them, right?

Wrong!

Let me use myself as an example. I have a prayer point that I've been petitioning on for years. I'd settled into thinking it was going to be one of those long haul prayers - that I'd be waiting like Father Abraham for its fulfillment.

However, the Holy Spirit recently used an unrelated verse to show me exactly how the Lord had already done what I asked for.

My initial reaction was to jump up and down, happy to have understanding and know the Lord answered me. Then, I became stunned. I couldn't believe I'd missed it. Listen, He'd answered the request months earlier and I was still enjoying the fulfillment of the prayer. Somehow, I'd ignored the fact that God had done it. I mean, once the Holy Spirit showed me, it was all so clear and frankly, I felt stupid.

I shouldn't have though, because the Lord Himself has said His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8). God delights in doing things the way He wants to do things. And it won't necessarily be the way we human beings expect. I simply delight in what He does and praise Him for it. I am content to know that He is mysterious and I can't understand everything He does and why.

Nevertheless, this was a big lesson to be careful. While waiting for something, we can get discontented. In that headspace, we could say or do things to cancel what God has already done for us but we just haven't realized it yet. Again, I would never have realized that God had answered my prayers on my own. It took the Holy Spirit granting insight because God did it for me in a way I could never have imagined. If I had wearied in praying and tired of waiting obediently on God, would I have ever understood that my request was fulfilled? Honestly, I don't know. Regardless, I'm grateful to God that I hung in there and He proved Himself true.

Please learn from my experience. God is answering prayers every day. Sometimes, we just can't see it yet because our human understanding is so limited in comparison to God's. We need Him to show us what He's done.

Habakkuk 2:3 - For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.