Trusting God with the Outcomes
By Niko Peele
I grew up surrounded by praying people, more specifically, praying women of faith. I can remember waking up in the middle of the night and hearing my mother crying, weeping, and calling out each of my siblings’ names before the Lord. I recall walking into my grandmother’s bedroom and seeing her kneeling and talking to God.
As I watched their lives of prayer and dependency on Christ, I noticed that in their contending and perseverance, God was doing something much bigger than the external thing they were praying for—He was making them bigger in Him (or shall I say making Himself bigger in them). Each time they were faced with a crisis or challenge in life, their responses became increasingly more mature. They were more Christlike. Their faith in God’s faithfulness grew stronger.
Instead of choosing offense in their pain and suffering, they chose Christ every time.
Cultivating and Cooperating
As I began my own journey of prayer through the ups and downs of life, I noticed God doing a similar work in my heart. There were times I contended for things—and the answer never came.
After walking through the disappointment with God, I began to realize that I got the real answer I needed. Most often it was packaged in the form of an internal breakthrough that my soul so desperately needed.
I don’t pretend to know the exact reasons why God answers some prayers and not others. I would even argue that God does answer our prayers, but sometimes the answer is a simple “no.” But I want to encourage you that even when you’re not getting the answer you desire, all is not lost.
God could be cultivating (expanding Himself) within you through the process. By cooperating with His sovereignty, we will see the answers that only He can orchestrate.
Perseverance
Life happens to everyone. We all walk through seasons of pain and difficulty. During these times it can be tempting just to throw in the towel and give up, especially when we are petitioning God for help but do not see anything change. We are not alone. Great men and women of God have also felt this way in their walk of faith. Despite the obstacles and challenges, we see them persevere.
The story of the three Hebrew boys who were thrown into a fiery furnace is one of the greatest stories about perseverance. In the very face of death, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego chose to declare, “The God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver usfrom Your Majesty’s hand.But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Dan. 3:17–18).
Wow. Such a powerful, mature response. Their faith wasn’t only in the ability of God to deliver them, but it was in the understanding of the sovereignty of God to work anything after the council of His will—even if it wasn’t the answer they desired. Instead of caving in to the pressure of their faith being tested, they pressed in and persevered. The outcome produced something dynamic within them and for those around them who witnessed such faith.
This reminds me of 2 Corinthians 4:8–10 as Paul describes the persevering faith of the saints of God. He includes descriptive words such as not feeling crushed, in despair, abandoned, or destroyed:
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
Perseverance is essential and something that must be cultivated in the life of every follower of Jesus. Perseverance is prevailing in faith when you do not see an answer. It is enduring in faith, regardless of the pressure, obstacles, and contradictions.
This type of perseverance—prevailing faith—produces the character of Christ within us.
Character of Christ
You may have heard it said that God is more interested in the journey than the destination. I have found this to be true. Prayer was not designed to be a transactional activity but rather a relational reality with the living God of the universe, who is our Father. An active relationship, standing before the living God in prayer (who created all the heavens and the earth and can measure the span of the universe with one hand), doesn’t leave one living in old ways.
Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.” Often in prayer, God will hide an answer for us (not from us) because He is doing something greater than what we are asking for.
In our contending for an answer (our faithfulness to show up before God in prayer) we get to be with Him, and that is truly the reward. Being with God produces something dynamic within our soul. It produces the knowledge of God, the love for God, perseverance in God, and ultimately the character of Christ. For this reason, the journey truly is more significant than the destination. It is Christ enlarging Himself within us.
As we surrender ourselves before God, even in the disappointment of “unanswered prayers,” the Spirit of God cultivates a resiliency within us that produces the character of Christ. When we reach higher for Him through our pain, God often responds with the answer that our soul needs (refinement and sanctification) more than the answer that our flesh desires.
As the character of Christ is formed within us, we find ourselves able to walk through things that would have overtaken us in previous seasons in life. Paul says in Romans 5:3–4:
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
But the character of Christ isn’t necessarily just for us. It also helps point the world to Jesus. What God is producing within us through the pain and disappointment of unanswered prayers ultimately preaches and testifies to the world around us about the Good News and greatness of our God. The beautiful and healing character of Christ being formed within us causes others to take notice!
Responding Well
The topic of unanswered prayer can bring a lot of emotions and questions. This very article may remind you of a time when you contended in faith for a miracle or a breakthrough—maybe health, finances, or relationships—and it did not turn out the way you had hoped. You may still be on a journey of prayer or know someone who is feeling disappointed by what may seem like silence from God.
This can leave one offended towards God, questioning His faithfulness. God is never disappointed in our pain or questions. He actually welcomes it.
Think about Job, experiencing loss after loss after loss. He cried out to God for deliverance and relief, for renewed health, and just plain help. He sat with his close friends, and they went through question after question of why God would not answer. Job remained surrendered to God. He even got to the point of saying, “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him” (Job 13:15).
Job was basically saying, no matter if God answers my prayers or not, I will still trust Him. Job remained surrendered and released his life to the sovereign will of God.
This story is as an example of how we can respond to the sovereignty of God. We must embrace a posture of submission to the will of God and release the answer to Him. We must submit our will and desire to God no matter the circumstance. God has higher ways that we simply may not understand:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8–9).
Like Christ who submitted His will to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matt. 26:36–56), we can do the same. We must learn to release our request and lives to God by putting things in His hands—and then trusting Him with the outcome.
With God, no prayer is ever lost!
NIKO PEELE is assistant editor of Prayer Connect. He is also the founder and president of Ignite Movement, helping to establish and advance vibrant gospel communities and united movements on college campuses and in cities (nikopeele.com).
