The Perhaps of God... Who knows?

When the answer to your prayer is not the reward of your prayer... how to pray? I mean, you pray to God for something, yet knowing that it may not happen... Like that how to pray?

I'm sure this strikes a chord in any genuine heart that seeks God and lays hold of His promises. You yearn for a miraculous healing to break through, yet you know it may not come. You press in for God's promises to come to pass - be it in your life or in your ministry - yet knowing that it may not unfold... How then to position your heart, especially before God when you go to Him in prayer? Oh God I believe, but how to deal with the questions in my heart?


Confidence in Approaching a God who is Gracious...
Whatever the situation you are facing, know that we can approach God in confidence, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Oh how we need to touch this truth of God and deeply encounter what is in His heart towards men, even when we have sinned and fallen short of His glory. If we encounter this truth in our inner man, we will not only run to God in confidence at all times, but also pursue Him wholeheartedly and live for Him in abandonment...

King David was one who had confidence in approaching God, at all times, yes, even when he has sinned. Remember what David did when God told him that his son would die because of his sin (2Sam 12:11-23)? He fasted and pleaded with God not to take his son's life away. David knew God, for He is gracious and longs to relent. He says in verse 22, "Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?"

In the end, God did not spare David's son even though he sought the Lord in fasting and weeping. Yet king David pleased God in that he was confident in approaching God who is gracious. The dying of his son does not show us God's un-graciousness towards David, rather it showed us the confidence David had in approaching God - that even when he knew the consequences of his sin, he has a God who is gracious and he can go to Him. David was not offended with God, as we later read how after his child has died, he got up, went into the house of the Lord and worshiped and went about his daily activities. David fully embraced the consequences of his sin, yet keeping his heart tender before God. Even though God did not relent, deep inside, he was rooted in the knowledge and faith of who God is.

I remember a testimony of someone whose mother was dying of cancer. One day, God said to her, "What if I do not heal your mother? Will you still believe in Me?" For the next two weeks, she could not answer the question truthfully from her heart. When she went about her worship and prayer before God, she knew she was being superficial with God, saying, 'Surely God you are a God who heals..even..." On the night her mother died, she turned to God and said, with the spirit of God stirring the seed of faith sown deep in her heart, "God, You are not only a God who heals, You are a God who provides, You are a God who is my Good Shepherd, You are a God who is my Peace, a God who is here with me..." and she continued to proclaim the name of the Lord... "for nothing can take away this truth of who You are, not even what has happened to my mother... for You alone are God." She could not believe her own utterance at that moment. But one thing she knew, that living a life of faith believing in God despite it all, is what saves her, is what keeps her sane in this world, is joy unspeakable! The two weeks of being superficial with God, as she recounted to me, was unbearable. That going through motion without really believing felt terrible. Praise be to God for this trial, for He has led her to higher ground, overcoming her lack of belief and becoming victorious in Christ.


The Perhaps of God...
Remember the story of how God sent Jonah to preach a message of repentance to the wicked Ninevites? And how the Ninevites (and their animals!), fasted and turned in repentance and desperation to the God who alone can spare them (Jonah 3:9). In Joel 2:14, we see again how God appealed to His people to turn and rend their hearts that He may relent and leave a blessing.

Before God brings about His righteous judgment upon the people, He leaves a window called the "perhaps of God". He makes known that He is going to judge, so isn't that final? Yet before that happens, He hearkens His people to turn and repent. For God is looking at our hearts - He is looking for repentant hearts. This "perhaps of God" does not suggest that God is fickle-minded that He cannot decide or that He is playing a game with us. Rather, it shows us the very heart of God - that He wants to relent, and the condition of that is repentance. God is just and will judge, yet He longs to relent and promises to leave a blessing for those who turn to Him in repentance.

In the book of Jonah, God relented when the Ninevites sincerely repented, showing fruits of their repentance. "Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it." (Jonah 3:10).

In the book of Joel, God not only calls the people to repent, He also gave them the specific guidelines on what to do if we were to turn to the Lord. More than that, it is an instruction manual for the Body of Christ on how to prepare ourselves for the coming Day of the Lord! The book of Joel is probably the clearest passage in the Word of God that describes what God wants us to do in times of crisis and how the people of God should respond - both on a local and global scale.

Let's also take a leaf from the book of Daniel - who said even if the Lord will not deliver him, he will still not bow to other gods (Dan. 3:17-18). Be inspired by the men from the hall of faith in Hebrews 11 - men who knew they would not receive any reward in this age, for they desiring a heavenly country... They all lived their lives striving to enter the narrow gate (Lk. 13:24), striving according to the working which works in them mightily (Col 1:29).

Fret not... you are not alone! God has given us His word to encourage us in times like these. Let those who has an ear, hear what the Spirit of God is saying and doing! For we need courage in such times - to press in, to lay hold... despite it all... and to press in to the "perhaps of God"...