After the Prayers are Answered

Noah–faithful, blameless, favored by God Noah–hit dry ground, built an altar, received God's new covenant. Then he got wasted and passed out (Gen 9:20-21). David–the man after God's own heart–took his rightful place as God's anointed king. Then he shirked his duties and went looking for trouble from the palace rooftop (2 Sam 11:1-3). The ten lepers got the healing they'd begged Jesus for. But 90% never returned with praise and gratitude. There's a special kind of faithfulness for after your prayers are answered.

Noah–faithful, blameless, favored by God Noah–hit dry ground, built an altar, received God's new covenant. Then he got wasted and passed out (Gen 9:20-21). David–the man after God's own heart–took his rightful place as God's anointed king. Then he shirked his duties and went looking for trouble from the palace rooftop (2 Sam 11:1-3). The ten lepers got the healing they'd begged Jesus for. But 90% never returned with praise and gratitude. There's a special kind of faithfulness for after your prayers are answered.

Sometimes it's easier to stay faithful during a struggle. When you're desperate for an answer, you cling to the only One who can give it. When persecution or tragedy comes, when you don't how you'll get the money, or if the next phone call will be the one to break your heart, when you can hardly get out of bed, you draw near to God.

But once the prayers have been answered–after you've gotten the promotion, or he's lived through the night, or you're in the house, or you've brought the baby home, or there's freedom from bondage–you're not quite as desperate as you where.

After the prayers are answered, you have to choose to remember that this new reality is a miracle and not an outcome you produced, that it's all grace, that consistency now is as important as heroics then, that praise and gratitude and growth should fill our days even when the newness wears off.

When we remember before, we can be faithful after.