A Prayer for When You Don’t Know What God Is Doing
By Molly Law
“How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and hear me, O LORD my God” - Psalm 13:1-3
When life is stagnant, it can be hard to hear God’s guiding voice. It is an unknown occurrence that happens from time to time. We can be in the Word, seeking God through prayer daily, yet no doors seem to be opening, all we hear are crickets in return.
The beautiful part of Salvation is not just that we believe in the Savior and await eternity with him, which is certainly a wonderful thing, but we also get a friend who enters our hearts and stays with us on this earth until we join the rest of the Trinity in heaven. The Holy Spirit, who is God, is part of our very core. When we seek the Lord, the Holy Spirit evokes his wisdom, guidance, and comfort through us.
Following the Holy Spirit’s guidance has always been an active choice for all my life decisions. I’ve always been ready to do God’s will in my life. Whenever I had a life decision, God would close all other doors and reveal the one he wanted me to go through. As I pursue another life course, all the doors I have tried remain closed. With each passing day, as I await the one to open, my hope continues to dim until it feels like it could fade entirely.
Before that can happen, I reach for the Word of God, my life source. As I flip to the Psalms, I realize that I am not the first to feel like this — not by a long shot. David’s vulnerability through his written prayers is so relatable, it feels as if he shared it on his social media post today. How timeless they feel as he cried out to the Lord thousands of years ago, “O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; And by night, but I have no rest” (Psalm 22:2).
The time in between, traversing the desert can almost feel worse than hearing a “no.” Of course, we would love the “yes,” but at least with a no, there is closure — one of the closed doors can be eliminated so that we feel as if, surely, the one door is just about to open.
There is no quick fix for this, no profound insight that I could give. All I know is that God’s timing is perfect — and that there is a reason he is not moving right now. No answer is his answer. He’s saying, “Wait on me. It is not time yet. I’ll let you know when it is.” And you know what? I believe him. I trust him even when it seems as if the silence tells me otherwise.
Let’s Pray:
Dear Lord,
Please let me remember your own words about your perfect timing, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
You know that I am waiting for an answer for something that is very close to my heart. A desire you placed in me long ago. Lord, it is getting increasingly harder to wait. I am losing hope. I feel like you cannot hear me. Where are you, my God?
When I feel like pulling away, I pray you will pull me tightly to your side — that I will still come to you daily so that I do not take matters into my own hands that will undoubtedly lead me astray from the path you had set out for me.
Be with us all as we go through the desert of our lives — as the silence grows louder until it becomes unbearable. Give us comfort and peace. Let the Holy Spirit stir within us, letting us know that you are still there, that you are with us even in the unknown.
I pray for the day that you open that one door in answer. I pray as we await that fateful day that our trust and faith in you will not diminish. I pray we stay steadfast in our devotion and trust in you no matter what happens.
We love and trust you, our Father, Friend, and Confidant.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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Molly Law is the former Editor of C.com. She has a Master of Arts in Publishing Studies from the University of Stirling, UK, where she studied and lived for a year in Scotland. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English Professional Writing from Gardner-Webb University. Her editorial career includes Senior Editor of a bimonthly magazine for the nonprofit ACA and Editorial Assistant at Luath Press in Edinburgh, UK. She enjoys reading 18th-century British Literature, creative writing, and traveling.
Editor's Note: We're proud to announce we've just launched a new nighttime companion to Your Daily Prayer: the Your Nightly Prayer devotional. You'll soon be able to subscribe to receive Your Nightly Prayer via email, or as a podcast, but for now you can find it on the website at crosswalk.com/devotionals/your-nightly-prayer. We hope it's a relaxing and soothing way to wind down your day with rich meditations on who God is.
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