Why God Answers Prayers (Part 2)

I was tempted the other day to write this as my Facebook status: "Candyce has totally depleted her brain of topics for her blog." But, voila, (my high school French classes are finally kicking in!), I then concocted this brilliant plan to say in 3 shorter posts what I could say in 1 very long one. As it turns out, most readers prefer shorter posts, so I will continue as planned.

The premise outlined yesterday is that we can have a confident expectation that not only will God hear our prayers, but that He will ultimately answer them as well. We then can lift our voices to God, as David did in Psalm 27:7:

"Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me."

Again, as a reminder, Paul David Tripp argues that God will answer us, not because of any goodness in us, but because of "...the character and plan of the God who is hearing." He continues this essay by listing some attributes of God that guarantee that He will respond to our pleas. Here is the first:

"1. His love. He's the ultimate wise, patient, kind, gentle, and forgiving father. He delights in his children. Because of his great love, his eyes look out for us and his ears are always attentive to our cries. Because of his love, he invites us to bring our cares to him, and he assures us that he really does care for us. He is never too busy or distracted or too tired to hear and answer. He doesn't refuse to answer because of our weakness and failure. He doesn't get impatient because we have to come again and again. He is love, and he loves to exercise his power and glory to meet the needs of his struggling children."

Instinctively we know this is true. Think of our relationships with our own children. Doesn't the above description sound like a pretty good parent? Don't we delight when our children come to us seeking help? Don't we really care for them and desire to meet their needs? The problem, of course, is that we are not ultimately patient, kind, gentle, or forgiving. Sometimes our love becomes conditional when we see repeated weakness and failure in them. We are too busy and tired and impatient to be fully attentive to them. And even the best of parents don't have the power or resources to solve the myriad needs of our children. What to do?

We can pray. We can pray to the One who is all of the above, and more. God has the wisdom, the power, and the love to care for His children. He has the eternal perspective that works out all things for our good and His glory. He is Love.