StorytellerIhe Atụ

Paul dedicated his life to traveling around and telling people about God’s great love. During that time, Paul endured beatings, lashings, and imprisonment. He was even shipwrecked as he went around the known world sharing the good news of Jesus. Paul loved God a lot, but that didn’t make things easy. Something—a “thorn in his flesh”—tormented him. He asked God to take it away, but God didn’t do it. God didn’t remove this obstacle, pain, or whatever it was. Still, God was gracious and gave Paul an explanation for why He said “no” to this prayer. God told Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV). The reality of being a child of God is that sometimes when we ask for something, God says no. But another reality of being a child of God is that the One we are praying to is good. So when His answer is no to what we are asking for, we can be assured that His reason is good. And if we could see His good reasoning, we would understand.

So when you pray, ask your Father with confident expectation. You don’t know how He’ll answer, but you can trust that you are asking a good God who loves you and has your best in mind.