A few months back I wrote a post titled, "Yes.[No].Wait." which primarily focused on how to respond when God tells us "no" when answering a prayer. A few days, ago I received a few questions on this post and I thought they were really good so I decided to make another post, in case anyone else also struggled with the same questions.
***I have abbreviated the comment/question for spacing, but please feel free to read the entire question here :
Hi Leah, I've asked these questions a few times in the past but never really found an answers I can live with. So I'd love to hear your ideas. Here's the questions:
Assuming you have prayed within God's will - yes, no or wait.
In reference to the no & wait, how can we tell the difference when God goes silent?
I assume most people like myself would continue praying & keeping the faith as we believe this silence is God thinking things over in his good time. Hence perhaps giving us a 'wait' answer.
You wrote, " “No” meaning, you’ve pretended like God hasn’t already made it clear to you that His answer is NO and you’ve told yourself you’re in the “waiting stage.”"
What if God hasn't made a 'no' answer clear? Does that mean we should naturally accept His silence as a 'wait'?
And what exactly are we waiting for? Are we waiting for our prayer request to faithfully manifest in our lives. Or, are we being asked to merely 'wait' for God's answer to be a clear 'yes' or 'no'?
Assuming you have prayed within God's will - yes, no or wait.
In reference to the no & wait, how can we tell the difference when God goes silent?
I assume most people like myself would continue praying & keeping the faith as we believe this silence is God thinking things over in his good time. Hence perhaps giving us a 'wait' answer.
You wrote, " “No” meaning, you’ve pretended like God hasn’t already made it clear to you that His answer is NO and you’ve told yourself you’re in the “waiting stage.”"
What if God hasn't made a 'no' answer clear? Does that mean we should naturally accept His silence as a 'wait'?
And what exactly are we waiting for? Are we waiting for our prayer request to faithfully manifest in our lives. Or, are we being asked to merely 'wait' for God's answer to be a clear 'yes' or 'no'?
How do you know the difference between a 'no' or a 'wait' when there's no guidance from God either way?
First, thank you for taking the time to read my post. These are really good questions, but let me just repeat it back to you just so I'm clear my response is addressing exactly what you’re asking. When praying to God and waiting for His response, you're asking how can we determine what is a wait and what is a no, because unlike "yes" which gives a self explanatory answer, "no" and "wait" can sometimes seem interchangeable and can be considered gray areas when getting an answer from God? And if we feel that we're being led to "wait" what exactly are we waiting on God for? (Hope I got that right lol).
So to go back to your original question, If we're waiting "by faith" for what we've been praying to manifest in our lives, that to me is assuming that God wants this for you and not truly accepting what God's will may really be. We have to want God's will more than our own. I believe all “wait’s” eventually turn into a yes or no, but the bottom line is whatever God decides at that time is what was the very best possible thing for you. The "wait" is just honestly designed to keep you seeking Him until He reveals the "yes" or "no" (Proverbs 3:5-6). And I would even take it a step further to say that God is not just about changing our situation, He's really about changing us, so that waiting period could really be for your benefit because when you "think" you're not hearing from God, it's really exactly where He wants us. It's causing us to seek Him more and become desperate for His presence, which He loves! But after that yes or no is revealed that's where trust kicks back in and says, “Lord I see this is where you're leading me for this situation. I may not agree with it but BY FAITH I believe that it's all working together for my good.” (Romans 8:28). God knows what outcome we really need and when we need it. The Bible says in Psalms 84:11, "no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly." So He has our best interest at heart no matter what answer He gives us.
Whew! I know that was a lot, but I truly hoped this helped! Please feel free to write back, this is a tough subject but soooo glad you brought it up! :)
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