"I Prayed"

I prayed that God would change it,

But wondered if He would,

There was no doubt about it,

I always knew He could.

But would He give the answer,

That I was hoping for,

Would He grant a miracle,

And show His power more.

I waited and I fasted,

I had folks pray with me,

I even verbalized my faith,

And made a loud decree.

But still I got no answer,

And still the need remained,

Why wouldn’t God just do it,

The better for His fame.

And I’ll admit to selfish,

If God did this for me,

I would have a better time,

What’s wrong with that, you see.

And He would get a lot of press,

So why not grant the win,

Impact lots of people,

And bring them right on in.

Days turned into many months,

And months turned into years,

And still I argued with the Lord,

My heart was filled with tears.

But the Lord just didn’t do it,

And that was why I grew,

More and more discouraged,

But ‘fore long I knew,

That the miracle I wanted,

Was one He wouldn’t give,

The answer simply was a no,

But I’d have grace to live,

On through that present crisis,

Though bale-out not in store,

The miracle was all inside,

I learned to trust Him more.

And looking back I’m thankful,

He answered it, you see,

He chose not to change everything,

But what He changed was me.

“So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time He will lift you up in honor…” (1 Peter 5:6, NLT)

The most significant attitude when approaching God is humility. He calls us to make our requests known to Him. He promises to hear us and answer us. Ask, and keep on asking. Seek and keep on seeking. Knock and keep on knocking. Answers will come, He says. But what if you don’t get the answer you want? That’s where the humility comes in. Prayer is not demanding that God do something for us just because He can. It’s asking for whatever, but leaving the ultimate results in His hands. That takes real faith, because we can’t see everything that God does. If we humble ourselves, God promises to lift us up. If we give Him our cares and worries, He will show us His care and comfort. But we cannot manipulate God with prayers, fasting or anything else. His will be done, above all. And when that changes inside us, everything else will, too.

Lord, we humbly ask Your will, not ours, be done, in Jesus’ name.

Photo by Kirstie Lamber, used by permission. Thanks, and God bless you, Kirstie.