Watching for Clouds by Suzanne Hadley Gosselin on 08/22/2008 at 12:50 PM

I have been praying in recent months, "Lord, teach me to number my days, that I might have a heart of wisdom." During that time, I collapsed twice, once in public, turning mustard-colored and clocking a pulse of 34 beats per minute.

These words come from World on the Web writer Andrée Seu (also the author of Boundless' "On Writing.") Seu believes God has answered her prayer through ventricular trachycardia, a serious heart condition. Not exactly the "answer to prayer" most of us are hoping for. Seu writes:

I believe there is a problem with our praying, which God drolly illustrates in the incident in which Mark's house church prays for Peter's release from prison and then doesn't believe he is at the door knocking (Acts 12).

Charles Finney tells of the days before his conversion: "On one occasion, when I was in one of the prayer meetings, some of the attendees asked if I wanted them to pray for me. I told them no, because I did not see that God answered their prayers." Ouch.

"On further reading of my Bible, it struck me that their prayers were not answered because they did not comply with the conditions upon which God had promised to answer prayer. They did not pray in faith, in the sense of expecting God to give them the thing for which they asked."

Seu provides the biblical contrast:

Elijah on Mt. Carmel bowed in strenuous prayer for God to send rain, and kept sending his servant to check the sky at intervals for signs of clouds. This is the kind of "watchful" (Colossians 4:2) prayer God wants.

When I send out an important e-mail, I check my inbox a bazillion times looking for the answer. But how often do I have that same expectation when I petition my Heavenly Father? Many times I'm like the Christians who prayed for Peter's release. I hardly expect anything to happen. And when it does, I'm surprised. Sometimes I may not even recognize the answer. How greatly my faith would be increased if I began searching the sky for those clouds.

Watching for Clouds by Suzanne Hadley Gosselin on 08/22/2008 at 12:50 PM

I have been praying in recent months, "Lord, teach me to number my days, that I might have a heart of wisdom." During that time, I collapsed twice, once in public, turning mustard-colored and clocking a pulse of 34 beats per minute.

These words come from World on the Web writer Andrée Seu (also the author of Boundless' "On Writing.") Seu believes God has answered her prayer through ventricular trachycardia, a serious heart condition. Not exactly the "answer to prayer" most of us are hoping for. Seu writes:

I believe there is a problem with our praying, which God drolly illustrates in the incident in which Mark's house church prays for Peter's release from prison and then doesn't believe he is at the door knocking (Acts 12).

Charles Finney tells of the days before his conversion: "On one occasion, when I was in one of the prayer meetings, some of the attendees asked if I wanted them to pray for me. I told them no, because I did not see that God answered their prayers." Ouch.

"On further reading of my Bible, it struck me that their prayers were not answered because they did not comply with the conditions upon which God had promised to answer prayer. They did not pray in faith, in the sense of expecting God to give them the thing for which they asked."

Seu provides the biblical contrast:

Elijah on Mt. Carmel bowed in strenuous prayer for God to send rain, and kept sending his servant to check the sky at intervals for signs of clouds. This is the kind of "watchful" (Colossians 4:2) prayer God wants.

When I send out an important e-mail, I check my inbox a bazillion times looking for the answer. But how often do I have that same expectation when I petition my Heavenly Father? Many times I'm like the Christians who prayed for Peter's release. I hardly expect anything to happen. And when it does, I'm surprised. Sometimes I may not even recognize the answer. How greatly my faith would be increased if I began searching the sky for those clouds.

Comments

[1. Matt Corey said the following at 4:51 PM on Aug 22:]

1

Good article....reminds me of this quote I once heard: "If you pray for rain, bring an umbrella."

[2. Lola said the following at 5:12 PM on Aug 22:]

2

Amazing post! I needed it. I thank God for you Suzanne. I'll remember to expect a response from our heavenly Father whenever I/we pray.

[3. Rachael said the following at 5:26 PM on Aug 22:]

3

Interesting about Elijah. Seems those signs would be pretty closely connected to the actual request, though, and not arbitrary. But you never know how God might work (although you can expect it wouldn't go contrary to Scripture). Remember the prayer of Abraham's servant, and how it was answered even before he finished his prayer.

We can't depend on feelings and "signs"...there may not always be that "sign".

But it's interesting that this week I've typed out prayers asking for guidance (it helps me focus to type or pray aloud. Writing out prayers is kind-of good for 'documentation' in my mind :) because otherwise I may be unsure of my thought prayers). And today I spoke with some family members and somehow, maybe since I was with them, I've been feeling more of a peace than unsureness about a potential decision, which is very nice. I'll continue to pray, and I think even if I don't maintain the feeling I have now, if I don't feel I should make a different decision, then it will help me decide, even if I don't see "a sign" or maintain this feeling. Hopefully I'll be able to read the "clouds" correctly :).

[4. Daniel Radke said the following at 6:16 PM on Aug 22:]

4

Amen to all of what you've said!! Too many times we do pray without expecting God to seriously do anything. James 1:6-8 talks about exactly what you've suggested here - that when we pray, we must believe in faith that God will act in response to our prayers in accordance with His sovereign will. And this should bring us immense joy that the infinite Creator God is concerned about each one of us, even though we are so physically small in the grand universe. Humanity is the pinnacle of His creation. Let us take great joy that God has not only created us, but called us as His own to partake in His gracious gift of eternal life with His Son! Praise the LORD!!!

[5. BDB said the following at 10:00 PM on Aug 22:]

5

Rachael (#3) wrote:

>>Interesting about Elijah. Seems those signs would be pretty closely connected to the actual request, though, and not arbitrary.<<

Yes, you're right. That particular passage seems to be checking whether God is moving yet...nope, not yet...how about now?...not yet...and now...wait, I see something small...

I always found it interesting that Elijah didn't need a big sign. Just a small cloud was enough to know that God had answered the prayer (1 Kings 18:44)

Oh, here's something. Just a few verses later (1 Kings 19:4), he's praying to die because he's gotten himself into quite a fix with the local authorities (Jezebel). So, I guess asking for a "sign" shouldn't be interpreted as "everything will be hunky-dory now."

[6. Beatrice81 said the following at 10:00 PM on Aug 22:]

6

I've been told that God *always* answers our prayers; his answer is either 'yes', 'no', or 'not now'. However, in this article, Suzanne seems to be implying that only an immediate "yes" counts as an answered prayer. Perhaps I'm misreading her, but when she says that she rarely expects anything to come of her prayers, she seems to be saying that God's "no" or "not now" just aren't actual answers.

Seems to me like we can't have it both ways. We either have to believe that a) silence IS an answer from God, or that b) God never says 'no' or 'not now' to a prayer request. Of the two, A seems more likely to me. B would require one to believe that every prayer that gets delayed or denied is because we simply didn't have enough faith. That would put you in the difficult position of telling the grieving parents of a dead child that the reason their little girl didn't survive was because they didn't pray with enough faith.

Thing is, I agree with Suzanne in that most of my prayers (when I've prayed for something against the odds) have NOT been answered in the affirmative. After 10 or 20 years of that, one grows accustomed to it. But no one ever STARTS OUT expecting their prayers to go unanswered -- they learn that thru practice.

[7. Hannah said the following at 10:01 PM on Aug 22:]

7

How convicting.

I overheard a woman giving testimony the other day of the miraculous series of events through which God helped her adopt a baby. Her manner and speaking made me think instinctively that she was some emotion-driven individual, talking so freely about God answering prayer.

But then, I wondered if that was the kind of faith God wants from us, and that He'd rather have the problem of a saint expecting too much from Him than expecting too little. I see conservative evangelicals shying away from faith-filled prayer because they're afraid to be mistaken for the next Benny Hinn, and as a result, shrinking God down to a pocket-size.

Thanks for this post. It came at an appropriate time. Thanks for giving me something to chew on.

[8. BDB said the following at 11:35 PM on Aug 22:]

8

Oh, and Suzanne, for the e-mail checking thing, you can always get a Blackberry. Then you'll always KNOW that the person didn't e-mail you back.

Until you go overseas, and it re-sets itself, and you realize a week later that it's no longer telling you that you have voice mail. THEN you'll forever wonder if your Crackberry has reset itself again, and take out the battery, and reboot it...(SIGH)

Come to think of it, praying until you get peace is a better plan...

[9. jonburge said the following at 12:09 AM on Aug 23:]

9

I really liked this post. This is something that I needed to hear. I have a question: to what degree should we act as if God is answering our prayers? To use an exaggerated example, what if you prayed for God to give you a million bucks? Obviously you shouldn't go out and rack up a million dollars in credit card debt because you believe that you will have the money to cover it. This isn't a loaded question, I really do not know the answer. Does anyone have an idea?

[10. BDB said the following at 4:32 PM on Aug 23:]

10

Jonburge (#9) wrote:

>>To use an exaggerated example, what if you prayed for God to give you a million bucks?<<

Well, what do you want the money for?

For example, in Southern California, a half-million dollar house is about 2000 square feet on a 6000 sq ft lot - pretty normal for a family. Are you asking God to give you a house to, say, shelter orphans after adopting them?

James 4:3 is pretty specific:

You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Our church is about to start a $20 Million capital campaign because we need parking, lots more space for children's ministry and (after 17 years), an actual sanctuary. We already have $5 Million pledged. That's more money that we had for the ENTIRE property when we bought it - it was only about $2.5 Million then. Seeing how God was faithful in those much smaller things, it's a lot easier to believe for the large ones.

But we don't spend the money until it comes in. We could probably get a loan for $8 Million, but we won't spend anything until the full amount is pledged, and we won't start construction until at least half comes in.

Though, one time, we had $40,000 saved up to finally put the floor into our worship center/gym. The pastor felt very strongly that God wanted us to give it away to another ministry, so we swallowed hard and gave it away. A week later a businessman who had sold his business stepped forward and paid for the floor. When enough of those smaller things happen, it's easier to believe for the big things.

[11. julia said the following at 6:01 PM on Aug 23:]

11

Thank you for this article, Suzanne.

Re: Beatrice (#6) and Jonburge (#9)

Jon -- this is something that I wonder about, too! Like Beatrice points out, it is evident that God does not always respond with a "yes" to our prayers; sometimes we get a "no" or a "not now". In other words, what seems like no response can in fact be God's response.

For myself, I find that extent to which I am convinced that my prayer is in accordance with God's will defines how much I will expect that prayer to come to fruition, and accordingly, to what extent I act as if the prayer will be answered. (eg, if I pray for more patience with everyday irritations, or for more opportunities to show God's grace to others, or for wisdom to understand God's word in a certain passage I'm struggling with, it's easier for me to carry out these prayers with a faithful spirit, delighting in asking God what I know he desires to give me, and fully expecting -- even knowing -- that what I pray will come to pass. These are the kinds of prayers that I recall having been gloriously answered).

On the other hand, there are times when I am not sure that what I want is what God wants -- and these are the times that I pray timidly or perfunctorily. Beatrice gives the example of parents of a child who is deathly ill who pray for her recovery. It's cases like these that I can't get my head around; what is the proper posture to have in prayer? The parents desperately want their child to recover. How can they pray in fullest expectation that she will recover, even now, when God has brought her to the point of death? How can they pray for, and expect God's FAVOUR upon themselves? If they are convinced in their hearts that perhaps it is God's will for their child to die, and perhaps it is His will for her to live, how can they pray for her recovery in true faith?

[12. Nicola said the following at 6:56 PM on Aug 23:]

12

Good question jonburge (9). I have an idea (just an idea though, so you can take it or leave it). I think that God sometimes answers prayer in ways that are different to what we expected or how we wanted them answered. So I think we need to have faith that God will answer our prayers, but not assume we know exactly how He will choose to do it. To use the million dollar example, we might ask for a million dollars and we would in faith expect God to answer that prayer....but we wouldn't, as you said, assume He will instantly deposit it into our bank account. He might say no. Or He might give us a job where we earn that much over years and years (for whatever reason). Hope that makes some form of sense! :-)

[13. Kirsty said the following at 2:13 PM on Aug 24:]

13

Great Post. Thankyou for this reminder.
Sometimes we (I) approach God timidly and unexpectingly rather than boldly and in faith.

[14. Rachael said the following at 9:12 PM on Aug 24:]

14

Jonburge,
God does not always answer prayers in the same way we would like Him to.

But... I would like to spin off (twist) your "what degree should we act as if God is answering our prayers"? I know this isn't what you were asking about, but I'm curious...

My feeling is that tons of Christians act as if God is answering their prayers in certain ways. I wonder, though, if God would sometimes/often have done those things even if the person didn't pray. Is the line "God answered my prayer" when there is something in the affirmative (going along with your hopes for result of the prayer), truthful? Or does the line "God answered my prayer" actually convey the following idea: "God MAY have answered my prayer, or He may have done ___________ anyway according to His will, but because I prayed I can see His hand in the matter more clearly..."?

[15. Manet said the following at 10:48 PM on Aug 24:]

15

Thank you for this post. It addressed my need as of the moment. :)

[16. Lindon said the following at 9:23 PM on Aug 25:]

16

Re: julia (#11)
You mention the case of the parents whose child is dying. In 2 Samuel 12, the prophet Nathan tells David that his child will die. David's response is to lie on the ground weeping, fasting, and praying for the child's life, refusing to get up, until 7 days later, when the child finally dies. David knew he was praying against God's will, but he kept praying, and praying earnestly anyway.

In David's case, the answer was "no", and David, when he found that the answer was "no", got up, washed, changed, and went to the house of the LORD to worship.

It seems from this that, in a way, God's will doesn't matter--in the sense that if what we pray for is not what God wants, He'll be certain to let us know. I think when one is not certain of God's will, what is important is to pray anyway, and be open and willing to praise God and draw closer to Him however He answers.

[17. jonburge said the following at 11:23 AM on Aug 27:]

17

thanks to all who responded to my question-much clearer now

[1. Matt Corey said the following at 4:51 PM on Aug 22:]

1

Good article....reminds me of this quote I once heard: "If you pray for rain, bring an umbrella."

[2. Lola said the following at 5:12 PM on Aug 22:]

2

Amazing post! I needed it. I thank God for you Suzanne. I'll remember to expect a response from our heavenly Father whenever I/we pray.

[3. Rachael said the following at 5:26 PM on Aug 22:]

3

Interesting about Elijah. Seems those signs would be pretty closely connected to the actual request, though, and not arbitrary. But you never know how God might work (although you can expect it wouldn't go contrary to Scripture). Remember the prayer of Abraham's servant, and how it was answered even before he finished his prayer.

We can't depend on feelings and "signs"...there may not always be that "sign".

But it's interesting that this week I've typed out prayers asking for guidance (it helps me focus to type or pray aloud. Writing out prayers is kind-of good for 'documentation' in my mind :) because otherwise I may be unsure of my thought prayers). And today I spoke with some family members and somehow, maybe since I was with them, I've been feeling more of a peace than unsureness about a potential decision, which is very nice. I'll continue to pray, and I think even if I don't maintain the feeling I have now, if I don't feel I should make a different decision, then it will help me decide, even if I don't see "a sign" or maintain this feeling. Hopefully I'll be able to read the "clouds" correctly :).

[4. Daniel Radke said the following at 6:16 PM on Aug 22:]

4

Amen to all of what you've said!! Too many times we do pray without expecting God to seriously do anything. James 1:6-8 talks about exactly what you've suggested here - that when we pray, we must believe in faith that God will act in response to our prayers in accordance with His sovereign will. And this should bring us immense joy that the infinite Creator God is concerned about each one of us, even though we are so physically small in the grand universe. Humanity is the pinnacle of His creation. Let us take great joy that God has not only created us, but called us as His own to partake in His gracious gift of eternal life with His Son! Praise the LORD!!!

[5. BDB said the following at 10:00 PM on Aug 22:]

5

Rachael (#3) wrote:

>>Interesting about Elijah. Seems those signs would be pretty closely connected to the actual request, though, and not arbitrary.<<

Yes, you're right. That particular passage seems to be checking whether God is moving yet...nope, not yet...how about now?...not yet...and now...wait, I see something small...

I always found it interesting that Elijah didn't need a big sign. Just a small cloud was enough to know that God had answered the prayer (1 Kings 18:44)

Oh, here's something. Just a few verses later (1 Kings 19:4), he's praying to die because he's gotten himself into quite a fix with the local authorities (Jezebel). So, I guess asking for a "sign" shouldn't be interpreted as "everything will be hunky-dory now."

[6. Beatrice81 said the following at 10:00 PM on Aug 22:]

6

I've been told that God *always* answers our prayers; his answer is either 'yes', 'no', or 'not now'. However, in this article, Suzanne seems to be implying that only an immediate "yes" counts as an answered prayer. Perhaps I'm misreading her, but when she says that she rarely expects anything to come of her prayers, she seems to be saying that God's "no" or "not now" just aren't actual answers.

Seems to me like we can't have it both ways. We either have to believe that a) silence IS an answer from God, or that b) God never says 'no' or 'not now' to a prayer request. Of the two, A seems more likely to me. B would require one to believe that every prayer that gets delayed or denied is because we simply didn't have enough faith. That would put you in the difficult position of telling the grieving parents of a dead child that the reason their little girl didn't survive was because they didn't pray with enough faith.

Thing is, I agree with Suzanne in that most of my prayers (when I've prayed for something against the odds) have NOT been answered in the affirmative. After 10 or 20 years of that, one grows accustomed to it. But no one ever STARTS OUT expecting their prayers to go unanswered -- they learn that thru practice.

[7. Hannah said the following at 10:01 PM on Aug 22:]

7

How convicting.

I overheard a woman giving testimony the other day of the miraculous series of events through which God helped her adopt a baby. Her manner and speaking made me think instinctively that she was some emotion-driven individual, talking so freely about God answering prayer.

But then, I wondered if that was the kind of faith God wants from us, and that He'd rather have the problem of a saint expecting too much from Him than expecting too little. I see conservative evangelicals shying away from faith-filled prayer because they're afraid to be mistaken for the next Benny Hinn, and as a result, shrinking God down to a pocket-size.

Thanks for this post. It came at an appropriate time. Thanks for giving me something to chew on.

[8. BDB said the following at 11:35 PM on Aug 22:]

8

Oh, and Suzanne, for the e-mail checking thing, you can always get a Blackberry. Then you'll always KNOW that the person didn't e-mail you back.

Until you go overseas, and it re-sets itself, and you realize a week later that it's no longer telling you that you have voice mail. THEN you'll forever wonder if your Crackberry has reset itself again, and take out the battery, and reboot it...(SIGH)

Come to think of it, praying until you get peace is a better plan...

[9. jonburge said the following at 12:09 AM on Aug 23:]

9

I really liked this post. This is something that I needed to hear. I have a question: to what degree should we act as if God is answering our prayers? To use an exaggerated example, what if you prayed for God to give you a million bucks? Obviously you shouldn't go out and rack up a million dollars in credit card debt because you believe that you will have the money to cover it. This isn't a loaded question, I really do not know the answer. Does anyone have an idea?

[10. BDB said the following at 4:32 PM on Aug 23:]

10

Jonburge (#9) wrote:

>>To use an exaggerated example, what if you prayed for God to give you a million bucks?<<

Well, what do you want the money for?

For example, in Southern California, a half-million dollar house is about 2000 square feet on a 6000 sq ft lot - pretty normal for a family. Are you asking God to give you a house to, say, shelter orphans after adopting them?

James 4:3 is pretty specific:

You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Our church is about to start a $20 Million capital campaign because we need parking, lots more space for children's ministry and (after 17 years), an actual sanctuary. We already have $5 Million pledged. That's more money that we had for the ENTIRE property when we bought it - it was only about $2.5 Million then. Seeing how God was faithful in those much smaller things, it's a lot easier to believe for the large ones.

But we don't spend the money until it comes in. We could probably get a loan for $8 Million, but we won't spend anything until the full amount is pledged, and we won't start construction until at least half comes in.

Though, one time, we had $40,000 saved up to finally put the floor into our worship center/gym. The pastor felt very strongly that God wanted us to give it away to another ministry, so we swallowed hard and gave it away. A week later a businessman who had sold his business stepped forward and paid for the floor. When enough of those smaller things happen, it's easier to believe for the big things.

[11. julia said the following at 6:01 PM on Aug 23:]

11

Thank you for this article, Suzanne.

Re: Beatrice (#6) and Jonburge (#9)

Jon -- this is something that I wonder about, too! Like Beatrice points out, it is evident that God does not always respond with a "yes" to our prayers; sometimes we get a "no" or a "not now". In other words, what seems like no response can in fact be God's response.

For myself, I find that extent to which I am convinced that my prayer is in accordance with God's will defines how much I will expect that prayer to come to fruition, and accordingly, to what extent I act as if the prayer will be answered. (eg, if I pray for more patience with everyday irritations, or for more opportunities to show God's grace to others, or for wisdom to understand God's word in a certain passage I'm struggling with, it's easier for me to carry out these prayers with a faithful spirit, delighting in asking God what I know he desires to give me, and fully expecting -- even knowing -- that what I pray will come to pass. These are the kinds of prayers that I recall having been gloriously answered).

On the other hand, there are times when I am not sure that what I want is what God wants -- and these are the times that I pray timidly or perfunctorily. Beatrice gives the example of parents of a child who is deathly ill who pray for her recovery. It's cases like these that I can't get my head around; what is the proper posture to have in prayer? The parents desperately want their child to recover. How can they pray in fullest expectation that she will recover, even now, when God has brought her to the point of death? How can they pray for, and expect God's FAVOUR upon themselves? If they are convinced in their hearts that perhaps it is God's will for their child to die, and perhaps it is His will for her to live, how can they pray for her recovery in true faith?

[12. Nicola said the following at 6:56 PM on Aug 23:]

12

Good question jonburge (9). I have an idea (just an idea though, so you can take it or leave it). I think that God sometimes answers prayer in ways that are different to what we expected or how we wanted them answered. So I think we need to have faith that God will answer our prayers, but not assume we know exactly how He will choose to do it. To use the million dollar example, we might ask for a million dollars and we would in faith expect God to answer that prayer....but we wouldn't, as you said, assume He will instantly deposit it into our bank account. He might say no. Or He might give us a job where we earn that much over years and years (for whatever reason). Hope that makes some form of sense! :-)

[13. Kirsty said the following at 2:13 PM on Aug 24:]

13

Great Post. Thankyou for this reminder.
Sometimes we (I) approach God timidly and unexpectingly rather than boldly and in faith.

[14. Rachael said the following at 9:12 PM on Aug 24:]

14

Jonburge,
God does not always answer prayers in the same way we would like Him to.

But... I would like to spin off (twist) your "what degree should we act as if God is answering our prayers"? I know this isn't what you were asking about, but I'm curious...

My feeling is that tons of Christians act as if God is answering their prayers in certain ways. I wonder, though, if God would sometimes/often have done those things even if the person didn't pray. Is the line "God answered my prayer" when there is something in the affirmative (going along with your hopes for result of the prayer), truthful? Or does the line "God answered my prayer" actually convey the following idea: "God MAY have answered my prayer, or He may have done ___________ anyway according to His will, but because I prayed I can see His hand in the matter more clearly..."?

[15. Manet said the following at 10:48 PM on Aug 24:]

15

Thank you for this post. It addressed my need as of the moment. :)

[16. Lindon said the following at 9:23 PM on Aug 25:]

16

Re: julia (#11)
You mention the case of the parents whose child is dying. In 2 Samuel 12, the prophet Nathan tells David that his child will die. David's response is to lie on the ground weeping, fasting, and praying for the child's life, refusing to get up, until 7 days later, when the child finally dies. David knew he was praying against God's will, but he kept praying, and praying earnestly anyway.

In David's case, the answer was "no", and David, when he found that the answer was "no", got up, washed, changed, and went to the house of the LORD to worship.

It seems from this that, in a way, God's will doesn't matter--in the sense that if what we pray for is not what God wants, He'll be certain to let us know. I think when one is not certain of God's will, what is important is to pray anyway, and be open and willing to praise God and draw closer to Him however He answers.

[17. jonburge said the following at 11:23 AM on Aug 27:]

17

thanks to all who responded to my question-much clearer now