We’ve all experience moments in our lives when we prayed to God out of desperation and in some cases, God didn’t necessarily respond in our favor. I know they’re scriptures that may appear to be contradictory, but I assure you they’re not. For example, I John 5:14-15 says, “ And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to His will he hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him.” Most people will cleave to verse 15 and failed to consider the caveat spoken in verse 14. The scripture says when we ‘ask according to His will’ and not our will.
Somebody say it with me….🗣PROVIDENCE!!!
God exercises His providence over all things, and arranges the affairs of our world! In short, providence is the way God sovereignly rules all of creation and this is very important for all of us to remember. Unexpected situations and circumstances do not govern God’s sovereignty. God’s love governs God’s sovereignty. His sovereignty isn’t cold and it’s not harsh with no regard or feeling for His children. It is God’s providence that turned God’s sovereignty from a hammer into a pillow on which to rest our weary heads and our anxious hearts.
God always knows best and He will always respond to our prayers out of provision and protection. God’s provision and protection isn’t arbitrary. He doesn’t withhold blessings to put His children through a cosmic test of pain tolerance. Bottom line, providence is our God and God is providence! He knows our needs even before we ask! God provides all of His children with only good gifts (James 1:17) and any time He withholds from us we can be sure it’s because that blessing doesn’t serve His ultimate purpose: to conform us into the image of Christ.
Charles Spurgeon once said of God, “[A Christian] trusts Him where [He] cannot trace Him.” My brothers and sisters, when the dark night of the soul comes, when the tears flow over like a river after a rainstorm, and when our prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling, we can rest assured that our prayers are heard and answered not just by the God who reigns, but by the God who provides, nourishes, and promises to make all things new. Philippians 4:19 reminds us that, “God will supply every need according to the glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
4GIVEN 