If you can relate, offer your own: what request were you fully convinced God had answered affirmatively?
“The incidents that come to mind were all followed through fairly quickly. The most recent I can think of being my safety through surgery and the tumor being benign.”
⛤ In my own attempts to distinguish my desires from an authentic word from God, I find that what God reveals to me in my ‘spirit’ is deeper than what I feel or sense in my emotions or, for the sake of distinguishing the difference, my ‘soul.’
Does what I’ve described lend any insight at all into your own challenges to discern true promises of God? If so, how?
“I think I kind of already know that, but it puts it all into words better than I could articulate it.”
How do the events we studied in session 9 fit on this time line?
444 B.C.
7 sevens – “Jerusalem fully rebuilt”
62 sevens – A.D. 33 – “Christ’s Triumphal Entry”
A.D. 70 – “Jerusalem falls” – Israel ‘on hold’ – “Age of Grace / Church Age”
1 seven – “Beginning of Tribulation” – 3½ years/3½ years
Dearest Rachel –
I have to admit, I’m not as good at discerning God’s answers to my prayers as you were. To me, it often seemed as if things naturally fell into place (or didn’t, in some cases); I wasn’t – and still am not – good at spotting God’s hand in making things happen in my life.
Then again, I wasn’t one to come to Him about things with anything near the frequency you did; I have not because I ask not, and that sort of thing. I didn’t even really ask Him about or anything; I wrote to you about my feelings about you, and you responded with joy and love. If God stirred me to write, and you to reply like you did, I didn’t recognize it. Meanwhile, when I ask Him about ‘Megumi’ (and those that I start imagining filling the role), nothing seems to be happening, one way or another. Then again, you could argue that this is a topic that’s too selfish on my part for Him to consider working on. There are other things that I should focus on that would better serve Him than finding her, whoever she is – and if she exists.
I was just reading one of the Psalms this morning about His power, and the things He is capable of. And when I take a step back and look at the wider world, I can actually see it from time to time. Even in the current moment, with what’s just been going on (and yeah, I’m dreading the fact that the two of us are on our way back to that), I can see that there are some amazingly hopeful developments going on. I may still be cynical about human nature – especially in comparison to Daniel (our son, not the writer of this book) – and I don’t see Him changing people’s minds en mass (because that would interfere with the free will He’s already given us), but perhaps there are other, more subtle, ways He works in people’s hearts and minds.
But I don’t see a lot of that in my own life. Then again, ‘Megumi’ aside, I can’t say that He hasn’t blessed me. From virtually the moment of my birth, when I was chosen by the parents I now have, to the fact that, through you and your folks, Daniel and I are able to travel like we can, I have been given much in life. Not earned, been given; there isn’t much that I can point to and say “I did this myself.” God has blessed me, and I can’t say otherwise. That being said, much of it isn’t even the result of prayer – if nothing else, the very first blessing came before I knew what was going on around me, let alone had the ability (or the imagination or faith) to ask for it – at least, on my part. I got so much without asking for it that I don’t see these things as answers to prayer (although my folks talk about how Jenn and I were answers to their prayers, so maybe that’s beside the point).
And I know it’s selfish to talk about ‘my life’ as opposed to prayers about the wider world and the greater sweep of history, but it’s where His delay is felt more sharply. The world will keep spinning after I’m gone, just like it has since your departure, and He can continue to work with it. Even the timeline you diagrammed on this study shows stuff that has yet to happen, and only He knows when it will. Which is fine. But when I ask about my own life, I only have (at best) a couple of decades left for Him to act or not – and if He chooses not to, I wish He’d let me know not to spend those decades going down a blind alley when He could better use me elsewhere.
Anyway, I’ve wandered so far afield, honey. I’ve got to get out there – however you want to interpret that – so I will talk with you later. Keep an eye on me, and wish me luck; I’m going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 