We wonder sometime why things happen in our lives and if God is really listening or paying attention. Why am I not married? Why doesn’t God answer my prayers in this vein? How come I am stuck in this dead end job? Why can’t I get that promotion? I need more money. Our health is not so good. My marriage is the pits and needs a restart. Why doesn’t this job ever offer me more than it is doing now? How come certain things are happening to me? These questions are legitimate. We cry out to God and wonder if He is listening at all. We feel we could inform Him of how things should go if He just gave us the chance or followed our prayer list to the letter! After all, we know best what is good for our lives, right?
If you look at God realistically and place Him in comparison to our intellect, it would be safe to assume that God is smarter and probably wiser, too. In comparison, if He really is the Creator of the Universe, knows everything (Omniscient), sees everything (Omnipresent) and has a plan for our lives…then in comparison to God, we are like an apple…or a tomato. Let me unpack this a little…
When we were children, some of us moved away from our friends to other parts of the city or to different states. We hated leaving our friends and cried and cried at the prospect of leaving the only home we have ever known. We yelled at our fathers or mothers and told them we hated them. We constantly asked “Why do we have to move?”
What we didn’t understand was that our parents knew more than we did. They knew, perhaps, that by moving from Michigan to California, that they could get better jobs, and consequently provide more opportunity for the family. They knew what we didn’t know and so made us suffer a little for the greater good.
God, as God, knows more than we do. He loves us and brings things into our lives that will ultimately benefits us according to His plan for us. At the end of every prayer, we might need to pray this prayer:
“God, thank you for listening, but now translate my words into the prayer I would have prayed if I had all your information.” And be at peace!
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