— Midweek Meditations:
thoughts, inspiration and encouragement
from ACF community members —
In recent months I’ve been pondering over the theme of unanswered prayer and how from a Christian perspective we are to approach this subject, as well as how to answer other people in our lives who are struggling with this question.
For my last birthday, my husband gave me a copy of Pete Grieg’s book entitled God on Mute and his insights have helped me enormously with gaining an understanding as to the possible reasons why we do not receive answers to our prayers, or perhaps put differently, when God answers, but doesn’t grant us our requests, which we then perceive as unanswered prayer. Since Pete Greig is the founder of the worldwide 24/7 prayer movement, I figured he must know what he’s talking about!
My favourite part of the book is when Grieg suggests that we need to adjust our expectations of life. In poorer parts of the world, people seem to expect that life is going to be, at minimum, difficult, and possibly even a matter of survival, whereas in our western, affluent society we have come to expect that life should treat us well, we should have good jobs, happy, healthy families etc. and if not, then we feel unfairly treated, we rant at God and ask Him to make things right again. When He chooses for whatever omnipotent reasons to not restore us to the way we were, then we may grow bitter, blame God or even lose our faith. Is it really God’s fault? Is he really on mute – or are we maybe not grasping the bigger picture? Are we able to accept the fact that life may be tough, but God is good? Are we prepared to believe unreservedly in that same goodness, even when the rug has been snatched from under our feet, when our world has crashed, when nothing seems fair and everyone else seems to have an easier life.
I’m beginning to realise that much of life seems less about my prayers being answered (in the way I want them to be answered) and more about God saying to me “are you going to trust me with this?” And the following year when things get even worse and there’s no answer in sight, I hear God whispering “are you going to trust me still”? Of course this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t continue our fervent prayers, that we shouldn’t still expect a miracle of intervention, and that we should resign ourselves to “unanswered” prayer. But in our supplications, we can spare ourselves a great deal of anxiety when we trust that He knows what is best for us and for our loved ones. In fact, we know from Scripture that Jesus Himself is interceding for us, He has never and will never, abandon us. Think about it for a moment, If our lives were perfect, would we have sufficient depth of faith to withstand when the trials come (as they inevitably will)?
“Such trials show the proven character of your faith, which is much more valuable than gold—gold that is tested by fire, even though it is passing away—and will bring praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:7
While I must admit that I haven’t quite reached the point of being able to thank him for even the bad things in my life, I am trying to pray “Lord, help me to learn whatever I am supposed to learn in this, help me to trust you regardless”.
Here I often cling to the words of a song that I love:
“Your plans are still to prosper, you have not forgotten us.
(Sovereign over us by Michael W. Smith)
You’re with us in the fire and the flood.
You are faithful forever, perfect in love
You are sovereign over us.”
I’d like to close this brief meditation with the opening quote from Grieg’s book:
Ani Ma’amin
(Graffiti found in 1945 on the wall of a basement in Köln, where a Jewish believer is thought to have been hiding from the Gestapo)
“I believe in the sun even when it’s not shining.
I believe in love even when I am alone.
I believe in God even when He is silent.”
The ACF Midweek Meditations
are written by a diverse group of our church members with the intention to seek God’s fingerprints in our lives. They range from somber to humorous and are inspired by all facets of live and faith. Written by ordinary people from all walks of life, they reflect a wide range of Christian backgrounds and spiritualities.
Each week’s text portrays the individual viewpoint of its author. They might not always resonate with everyone, and are not meant to be understood as representing the Anglican Church Freiburg as a whole. Yet, as a church that is aiming to ‘Build a Community of Grace’ we seek to practice learning from and listening to one another.
We pray that these humble ponderings add a small spark of blessing to your week.
Freiburg Anglican Church 