The joy of answered prayer 2

"I love you, LORD, my strength,  LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, My God, my rock of refuge, my shield, my saving horn, my stronghold!  Praised be the LORD, I exclaim! I have been delivered from my enemies." (Psalm 18: 2-4)

David experienced the joy of answered prayer when the Lord delivered him from the hands of his enemies and from Saul who was in hot pursuit to take David's life. The joy of answered prayer is the most intense joy I have ever experienced.  It is the joy of having waited with longing and expectation to see the moment of fulfillment arrive.  The scripture says that answer to prayer delayed makes the soul sick.  The joy of answered prayer is not unlike the joy a woman experiences at the moment when the baby is handed to her in the delivery room and the doctor beaming with smile says, “This is your baby.”

This week, I experienced the joy of answered prayer twice.  I needed money to meet due bills at two different times this week.  Just before I woke up on Monday, I was inspired to call a certain client.  I called the client at 8.45 am.  We talked for some 15 minutes.  My pitch was inspired.  At the end of the conversation, the client asked me to see him at 6.30 pm the same day.  I saw him and walked away with an amount twice what I needed to pay my bills.  After dinner the same day, I paid the two bills online.  Their due date was the following day.  Yesterday Thursday, I needed money to pay for rent and utilities looming on the first of the month, a few days from then.  I besought the Lord in prayer.  “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.” (Psalm 18: 7)  At about 1 pm on Thursday, a client called and asked me to come at 4 pm.  I went and did a business that covered my bills for the beginning of the month.

I can sing honestly with David:  "I love you, LORD, my strength,  LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, My God, my rock of refuge, my shield, my saving horn, my stronghold!  Praised be the LORD, I exclaim! I have been delivered from my enemies." (Psalm 18: 2-4)  We know that God is able to do anything.  It is only when He does something that we prayed for, something that touches us critically that we know that He is also willing.   Faith is trusting that God is both able and willing to help us and then surrendering our desire to His loving and powerful providence.  Like Daniel in the Lion’s Den, we can say after prayer:  “If we live, we live; if we perish, we perish.”   (Daniel 3: 17 – 18)