What is an answer? Reflection on prayer…

God answers our prayers. What is an answer? It’s a response. An answer CAN BE that God would give me what I asked for if it is according to God’s will. Who is man to know the will of God? The closest we can get to knowing the will of God is to align our prayers with what Scripture speaks to us about who God is.

When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, Jesus models for them the Lord’s prayer. Within the Lord’s prayer it says “your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. John 14:13-14

I get the sense that the verse above implies that the name Jesus IS THE WILL of God—meaning, it sounds like if you ask for anything in Jesus’ name, then Jesus’ name is synonymous with the will of God because Jesus is the will of God. What does this imply for prayer? It tells me that you can’t ask for a million bucks in the name of Jesus and expect to get it because it’s not the will of God for you to get a million bucks. But if you were to ask to believe in God with all of your heart and all your strength and all your soul, that prayer will be answered affirmative, rather than silence or a negative.

Finally, how can silence be an answer? SO many people struggle with this as they pray for a loved one to not die or a catastrophe to be averted or a marriage to be healed. All of this deep prayer and pleading with the All Powerful on your knees while covered in tears—and the only answer is SILENCE???!! It’s so quiet that it becomes deafening. The thing is, I think it’s the best answer, most times. We tend to demand answers but only want to hear affirming replies. No one likes to be told not your will, but “[His] will be done.” (Matthew 6:10, cf. Proverbs 19:21) When we trust that God is good and have faith in His plan for us, we truly can be thankful for ALL things. What might seem like an evil done against me, I must accept that God meant it for good (Genesis 50:20) and He may never tell me what that good reason was. While I am okay with that, it would be extremely unwise tell that to anyone who is still grieving a loss or who has recently experienced great hardships of any sort.