How can you be so sure that God exists? The Bible says God answers sincere hearts’ prayers, yet he ignores my prayers. Why is that? They say maybe it’s not meant to happen. In that case, why does God keep us in the same situation no matter how much you try to change the situation?

- AFTB

Posted on Jan 2, 2014

We primarily know that God exists because He tells us in His Word, such as in Genesis 1:1 which says in part, “In the beginning God…” There’s no argument here or statistics to prove His existence. He simply tells us that He is. We do read in Romans 1:20 that the existence of the Lord is shown in His creation. That says, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” King David considered the existence of the Lord as He gazed into the night sky and wrote in Psalms 8:3-4, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” Job said plainly in Job 19:25, “…I know that my redeemer liveth…”

It may be that you doubt the Lord’s existence because He has not answered your prayers in the way you thought He should and within the time frame that you expected.

We are assured of the Lord in 1 John 5:14-15, “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” When our petitions to the Lord are according to His loving and perfect will, He will give us the things we ask for. Perhaps what you are asking from the Lord is not in accordance with His perfect will for you. It’s His love for you that prevents the Lord from giving you things that will eventually cause you harm. 1 Samuel 16:7 tells us that, “…the LORD seeth not as man seeth…” The Lord sees things from a heavenly and eternal perspective. He knows what is best for us. He knows what will draw us towards the world and what will draw us closer to Himself.

Perhaps the Lord is allowing you to go through hard times because He is trying to teach you valuable lessons. The Apostle Paul was given some kind of physical defect so that he would remain humble. We read in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” We are not told what this infirmity was, but we see that, for his own good, the Lord sent this infirmity and did not remove it, even after Paul had prayed three times, asking the Lord to remove it. Because of that, Paul learned a wonderful lesson. He learned that all he really needed was the grace of God in his life. He learned that when he was physically weak, the strength of the Lord could be manifested through him. He learned to thank the Lord for his infirmities, for his reproaches, for his necessities, for his persecutions, and for his distresses. We would do well, that when we are going through times of suffering, instead of immediately asking the Lord to remove our unpleasant situations, we should ask the Lord what lessons He is trying to teach us.

James 5:16 tells us that, “…The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Keep praying, but realize that the Lord is seeing your trials from a different perspective and may have lessons for you that will make you stronger and closer to Him. Trust the Lord. He is there, and He knows what He is doing. While he was going through a difficult and frightening situation, King David confessed to the Lord in Psalms 56:3, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” He also wrote in Psalms 37:4-7, “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him…”