Faith: Trusting God When I Don't Get What I Want

God answers prayers, but not always the way we want. Hebrews 11 lists people who didn't get what they prayed for, yet they are considered heroes of faith. Many of them experienced all kinds of bad things: persecution, murder, poverty to name a few.

You see, living by faith doesn't exempt us from the problems of this world. Faith does not make our lives easier. It is easy to follow God when things are going well, but do you follow God when things are bad. Often, we pray for God to remove the trial in our life, but God says "No! I'm going to strengthen you during this trial and you will be a better person for it."

This time right here and right now is not all there is, so we have to trust God even in the difficult times. Hebrews 11 tells us of people who did just that, "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect" (Hebrews 11:30-40).

These people did not get everything they prayed for, but God had something better for them.

Many of you have been praying for something over and over again and you haven't got what you prayed for. Don't quit; God is pleased with your faith shown by your prayers. This moment in your life is not all there is. There is a heaven and an eternity and that's the rest of your story. It may not feel like it right now, but God has something better planned for you.

What prayer in your life isn't being answered? How is that affecting your faith? Are you trusting God even when you don't get your desired answer?

"You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head." Psalm 139:5

~ Tim Hall https://twitter.com/1timothy12 (I encourage feedback, questions & comments - email me at 1timothy46@gmail.com)