He is with us
No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. (psalm 84:11 KJV)
I like to remember the special times when the Lord answered my prayers. Besides remembering notable and quick answers to prayer, I realize that the greatest and most important answers to prayer for me have come only after a long period of waiting; not just waiting for the answer, but learning to deal with the problem victoriously while waiting.
This may be one reason why the Lord doesn’t answer some of our prayers right away, as we would like. We need to have some long-term struggles in our lives, because they help make us stronger. I can remember taking a certain concern, an ongoing problem, to the Lord repeatedly, for years, politely requesting Him to intervene.
Seeing the Lord answer these important matters is wonderful, but the answer may take a long time. I believe this enduring of hardship or afflictions, and maintaining a good attitude through them, is part of God’s school for us. He is interested in building character and inner strength.
Sometimes that simply requires that we endure hardship for long periods of time. While we’re passing through the waters or the flames of hardship, as the Bible refers to them, He is with us, and through the troubles we are not overcome, but are trained to become more like Him, more tolerant and compassionate. [1]
Suffering is a school whose students learn things about themselves, about God, and about life that they would never have learned without it. Looking back on the priceless lessons he learned, the sufferer is able to say to the one who appointed it all, ‘You are good, and what you do is good.’”—Timothy Keller
[1] Anchor Enduring Well
