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You Will Answer Me

             I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer. Show me the wonders of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes. Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings from the wicked who are out to destroy me, from my mortal enemies who surround me. (Psalm 17: 6-9) 

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised (Hebrews 11:39)

 

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.  If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18)

 

I wish I could sing this psalm, but David’s being pretty over-the-top bold. There are other Psalms when he makes it clear that God hadn’t answered. So given the past, is he being overly optimistic in claiming that God will answer him now? This is where I run into problems. I know people claim that God always answers prayer. It might be “yes,” or it might be “no,” or it might be “wait,” but He always answers. And I know it’s possible that He answers, and I don’t hear or understand the answer.

But then I read the verse from Hebrews 11:39, and I know that God might not answer me during my lifetime, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are commended because they declared that whether God protected them from the fire or not, they would not turn from Him.

So when it comes this psalm-writer’s confidence about God answering him, I can relate to the request. I want to be more in tune with God, to see the wonders of His great love, to hear His still, small voice, to recognize His provisions, to feel protected… All of those would be, have been, and shall be desired and enjoyed. Because I have seen, heard, recognized, and felt in the past even if I don’t right now, and I fully expect that I will see, hear, recognize and feel in the future even if I don’t right now. That doesn’t make it necessarily easier to go through the times when God doesn’t appear to be there and doesn’t appear to be doing anything.

The problem is, I don’t have patience. At least, I don’t have the sort of patience of the folks described in the verse in Hebrews. And I don’t have the sharply defined circumstances of the men in Daniel. They knew their answer would arrive in a specific time period. Things were well defined for them. And perhaps that’s closer to what the psalmist is describing. Maybe there was a specific, clear situation – a real crisis. In my life, it seems as though most of my crises are self-inflicted and probably imaginary.

The other issue that needs to be considered is God’s goal in His answers. If His goal is His glory and our benefit (Yes, I’m considering those to be basically the same thing seen from different perspectives) then how often does He need to not answer, to strengthen and mature us by not treating us as infants?

I feel like I’m back to the same old, same old. Whine… “God’s not talking to me the way I want. He’s not doing what I want. He never listens to me. He must not love me, etc.” But I also know the truth, that even when I don’t get what I want… even when I don’t hear or see an answer, God is still good. He still loves me. He has promised to guide me and protect me, and so far – even if I don’t notice – He has done so.  That means that the psalmist is right, and I’m the one who needs to change her tune. He will answer me, after all.

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