I Know Just How You Feel

  “Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10 (NIV)

    My frustration over the situation was growing by the second. “Why in the world won’t she listen to me?” I fumed inwardly.

   My daughter had just come into my bedroom for the fourth time in four days with the same request and repeatedly begged me to give her a different answer. I remained consistent and answered her in the same way every time but knew without a doubt that she would return before long and the whole scene would repeat itself.

   “Why won’t she listen, Lord?” I prayed out loud as I pulled open my closet door. “Day after day she comes to me with the same requests. Day after day I give her the same answers. I know she wants me to change my mind to her way of thinking but I truly know what is best for her. I am so frustrated that she won’t trust me as her parent to know what is best for her right now. She won’t even stop asking long enough to listen to me!”

  As I took a breath, the Lord spoke quietly to my heart: “I know just how you feel.” The shirt I was pulling out of my closet was suspended in mid-air as His Words sunk in: “I know just how you feel.” Up until that point it had never occurred to me that I was just like my teenager.

  How many times had I gone before the Lord with a request - day after day – and begged Him to change His thinking, answers, and viewpoint to match mine? I continued to lay the same request before Him and refused to listen to His answers because they were not what I wanted to hear. Ever been there?

  I admit that there have been many times when I have gone before the Lord and felt the need to give Him the answer that I wanted without asking for His will in my request. I also admit that when He did not answer in the way I wanted, my first response was not “What would you have me do, Lord?” but rather “Why won’t you do what I want, Lord?”

  We are told in Philippians 4:6 (NIV) to not be anxious about anything “but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”  And He will give us whatever we want? No, He, as a loving Father, will give us whatever we need.  So should we go before the Lord once, present our request, and then never address it again? 

   Of course not. He is a Father who delights in meeting His children in prayer. But our attitude should be “What would you have me do, Lord?” and then wait on His answer, in His timing. God’s will is always best for His children. His answers are never wrong. And yes, He knows exactly how we feel.

   Father, so many times I have a demand and not a request and I don’t listen to you. Forgive me.  Teach me patience as I wait for your answers. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 R.A.P. it up . . . 

 Reflect

• How often can you remember demanding an answer from God that you knew might not be in His will?

• What was your response when His answer was not what you wanted? Anger? Frustration? A determination to do what you wanted anyway? Or patience?

Apply

• Keep a journal of your prayer requests, including the date and time.

• Refer to your journal periodically to see how the Lord answered your prayer request.

Power 

• Psalm 46:10 (NIV) “Be still, and know that I am God.”

• I Corinthians 3:19 (NIV) “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight…”

• Matthew 7:9-11 (NIV) “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”