 |
Dear
Gramps, My family has been struggling with financial problems for a while,
due to my dad being unemployed. I have fasted and prayed many days and
nights along with the rest of my family and nothing has happened for
almost a year, why isn’t the Lord answering my prayers? Sarah. |
Dear
Sarah,
It
is natural for us to request the Lord to solve all our problems, and it is
also appropriate that we pour out our hearts to Him seeking His intervention.
However, the fact that our prayers are not answered according our own time
frame does not mean that they have not been heard, nor that the appropriate
time of the Lord they will be answered.
On
the last day of November of 1838 Joseph Smith had been court marshaled and
condemned to be shot the following morning. General Alexander W. Doniphan
refused to carry out the order saying that it was cold-blooded murder. This
frightened the general in command of the mob, which was expelling the saints
from the state of Missouri; so they imprisoned the prophet and others in
Liberty jail. The whole Church prayed for his release. On March 20 of the
following year, while still in prison, the Prophet poured out his soul to the
Lord, pleading for his release. You can read his prayer in the first part of
D&C 121. The Lord answered his prayer, but didn’t immediately release
him from prison; rather, he gave him some very sage advice--
My
son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be
but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on
high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes. Thy friends do stand by thee, and
they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands. Thou art not
yet as Job; thy friends do not contend against thee, neither charge thee with
transgression, as they did Job. And they who do charge thee with
transgression, their hope shall be blasted, and their prospects shall melt
away as the hoar frost melteth before the burning rays of the rising sun
(D&C 121:8-11).
And
from that extremely difficult experience came some of the most marvelous and
profound revelations in the restoration.
The
prophet made two unsuccessful attempts at escape before he was finally
released. Was the Lord indifferent to his pleas, or was Joseph being trained
and schooled by the things that he was required to suffer? The road through
mortality was not designed as an easy path, but as a proving ground, where we
will be confronted with opposition and where our faith will be tested. But the
Lord has given us this promise
Therefore,
he giveth this promise unto you, with an immutable covenant that they shall be
fulfilled; and all things wherewith you have been afflicted shall work
together for your good, and to my name's glory, saith the Lord
(D&C 98:4-3).
So don’t feel that the Lord has not heard your prayers nor that He will not answer them in such a way that the deprivations that you now are suffering will be converted into blessings for you and your family. We must have faith, patience and full confidence that the Lord will do his work in His own way. If, on the other hand we lose faith, we may forfeit the blessings that otherwise would be ours.
Gramps