Struggling for Answers to Prayers

Repeatedly in the scriptures and during Christ's mortal ministry, we are taught that those things that we ask of God will be given unto us:
  • "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."  Matthew 7:7
  • "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God."  James 1:5
  • God "doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive."  Mosiah 4:21.
Over the course of the last few years, I have on several occasion wondered why it seems to hard to receive answers to my prayers.  On some significant issues, I did not received an answer or direction until after I struggled, at length. 

Yes, I realize that there are some standard reasons that prayers are not answered (immediately), including:
  • We are not listening for an answer;
  • We do not like the answer we are getting;
  • We are not asking for the right things;
  • All options we are considering are acceptable and it is up to us to choose; or
  • The timing is not right.
Yet, I did not feel like any of these reasons applied.  Preparing for my Young Women lesson this month helped me realize some truths about personal revelation that answered my question.  The Lord frequently allows us to struggle for a time to find an answer because the "process" of struggling is important for us in order to build faith and character. 

Elder Richard G. Scott taught, "Be thankful that sometimes God lets you struggle for a long time before that answer comes. Your character will grow; your faith will increase. There is a relationship between those two: the greater your faith, the stronger your character; and increased character enhances your ability to exercise even greater faith."

He continued, "I have discovered that what sometimes seems an impenetrable barrier to communication is a giant step to be taken in trust. Seldom will you receive a complete response all at once. It will come a piece at a time, in packets, so that you will grow in capacity. As each piece is followed in faith, you will be led to other portions until you have the whole answer. That pattern requires you to exercise faith in our Father’s capacity to respond. While sometimes it’s very hard, it results in significant personal growth."

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2007/04/using-the-supernal-gift-of-prayer?lang=eng

This was a piece that I was missing.  Realizing that the struggling was part of the process.  That God lets us struggle to search for an answer because the process of struggling helps us grow and sanctifies us.

Comments

  1. Lauren MonahanJanuary 13, 2013 at 6:33 PM

    Nice post. I think it's easy to forget that most of the people in the scriptures have much much harder lives than the glossy images on church publications. A lot of the greatest men and women in scripture/history are even killed. Being good has never ever guaranteed a "happy" life; greatness usually requires the opposite, it seems.

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