Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
What do you do when you pray and pray and you don't get an answer? Or the answer is a plain No? Did I hear you say that all your prayers get a Yes answer? If so you are a most unusual person. Many people, especially children, are perplexed when they hear stories of some people always getting an immediate Yes answer; they don't seem to get such answers. Well, neither do I.
Even the apostle Paul had to suffer the disappointment of not getting a Yes answer to his prayers. He tells us about it in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. He had a painful physical problem, and three times he earnestly prayed, Lord, take this away; am I not serving You? And he probably said, like we do so often, "Don't I deserve something?" The Lord said No to his request: "My grace is sufficient for you," and with it you can endure this pain.
The children need to understand that if the Lord says No, it does not mean He doesn't love us; He does. His "No!" can be a greater proof of His love than if He lets us win the lottery.
We can be sure that He will always give us enough from His store of much more abounding grace that will enable us to bear the trial and endure its pain. That grace is often much better than to have the trial taken away from us. Why? Because His wonderful grace is strongest when we are at our weakest: "My strength is made perfect in weakness," He said to Paul (2 Cor. 12:9).
Paul immediately took the hint and capitalized on it: "Therefore most gladly I will rather boast [glory, King James Version] in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." In other words, my trials turn out to be a great bargain!
Take a new look at your trials; you may be missing a bonanza.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 29, 2008.
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