Something Better

‘If God doesn’t answer our request the way we expect, then He will do something better.’

That was one of the many sayings I used to hear from a German friend, a godly Lutheran minister who just turned 86.

It was also one of the ones that I found most difficult to take in. ‘After all,’ I thought, ‘I can always use that as a cop-out when God doesn’t answer my prayers. How do I know that I’m not pulling the wool over my own eyes?’

I guess one of the benefits of age (there are some!) is that it helps to get things in perspective.  Looking back over the decades, I can think of a number of situations in which my immature—or at least inadequate—requests were answered later in much better ways than I could have dreamed. Not in every case, of course, but in enough of them to make me want to think that the others rest in very capable Hands.

A few weeks ago, we requested prayer for ‘Hal.’ It didn’t turn out as we had hoped—his application for asylum in Canada was rejected.  He is discouraged, of course. But in the meantime, God seems to be working in his family back home, some of whom have communicated their apology for the way he was treated. Hal believes that God wants to use him in his family, and going back home now seems to be God’s will for him.

I’ve been teaching the book of Acts in an adult education class at the church I attend, and recently we arrived at Caesarea (at the end of the Apostle Paul’s third missionary journey). Some were trying to dissuade Paul from going on to Jerusalem, since he had already said that ‘imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me’ (Acts 20:23). He responded to the members of the church there:

‘What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.’ (21:13)

The interesting thing is that some weeks before he had written to the church in Rome, and asked them to earnestly pray that he might be ‘rescued from the unbelievers in Judea . . .’ (Rom. 15:31).

He was rescued, but it wouldn’t become evident for some time to come. Skeptics might look at what subsequently happened and say something like, ‘well, looks like God didn’t show up that time.’  They would be wrong, of course. Some of the most profound and helpful writings in the New Testament were penned during the resulting period of rejection and imprisonment that Paul went through. He was delivered, but not in the way he expected. Good thing for us.

I don’t want to minimize the danger that Hal may still be in. I just want to thank God for what he has done in Hal’s life, and the fellowship he was able to have with friends in Canada (he was recently baptized). I suspect that our Lord sent him to Canada, not so he would receive asylum, but so that we, because of Hal’s experience, would be encouraged to follow the Lord wholeheartedly.

Hal has expressed his confidence in God in terms of Joshua 1:9:

‘Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.’

That is a good message for us in the West to take to heart as well.

If you would like to send a note of encouragement to ‘Hal,’ you may do so by going to our website, and using the contact form on our website, (http://www.reachacross.net/Contact_Us) and put ‘for Hal’ at the beginning of your message.

US Director