God, please zap me!

I got honest with God the other day and told Him I don’t always like how He answers my prayers. This confession came after I realized I want and expect God to zap me or whatever circumstance I’m praying about with His power and immediately fix things. When that doesn’t happen, and He takes me through a process instead, I often feel disappointed in Him.

Don’t get me wrong, I have received some miraculous zaps from the Lord. All of us Believers have. When we say yes to Jesus, we pass from death to life. There’s a Mega-Zap! For myself, my salvation came with the immediate healing of 25-years of drug addiction. Wowzers, what a zap! And He has continued to wow me over the years.

But sometimes, even though the answers to my prayers are equally impressive, the length of time and the process it takes to get there makes me less than impressed. Frankly, it makes me discouraged. And I don’t think I’m alone in that. Have you ever said, “I prayed, and it didn’t work?”  If so, you are in the same boat.

Last week I talked about the necessity of hope. This week I want to talk about misplaced hope because I figured out my hope has been misplaced for a long time. I had placed my hope in an expectation of how and when God would do things instead of God himself.   And when I put my hope in the “how” or the “when” something will happen instead of the WHO will make it happen, I’ve set myself up for a faith fail.

When my dad was alive, I always knew he had my back.  When my dad said he would take care of something, however big or small, I immediately stopped stressing. I never worried about how or when he would take care of it because I knew my dad. My relationship with my dad taught me how trustworthy he was, and I trusted him completely. I want to have that kind of hope and faith in my Heavenly Father. That kind of hope in the Who only comes from a relationship.

And here’s the other thing I’ve figured out, we get a thrill from the zapping, but we grow when God takes us through a process. I was wowed when I was delivered from my drug addiction. I was confused and disappointed when I still had to serve a prison sentence. But wow, did I ever grow. I wouldn’t be who I am today without it. I just resist thanking God for the process answers because they are usually painful. We don’t like pain; we like zaps. But if we think the process answers are any less glorious, we are wrong.

All of this has led me to a new mantra I want to share with you: “I don’t know how, I don’t know when, but I know Who.”  Go ahead and roll that around on your tongue a few times, then take it for a test drive next time you pray. Now you are putting your hope in the right place!