What If Your Answer Is Already Here

“God might not answer our prayers the way we expect Him to. But He always answers our prayers the way He ought to.” - Helen Beless

It’s an old story I remember hearing as a child. A man was stranded on the rooftop and couldn’t get off as flood waters rose. He prayed to God to save him and fully believed he would. A row boat came and he waved it away saying, no I have faith that God will save me. A motorboat came and he waved it away and said no, I have faith that God will save me. Finally, a helicopter came and still the man said no, I have faith that God will save me.  The waters rose and he ended up drowning. When he went to Heaven he asked God what happened? God responded ‘I sent you a rowboat, motorboat and a helicopter but you said no to all 3!’

As a child I thought it was a funny story. It was told to me as a joke as it is generally told. But as an adult I can’t help but look deeper. This man prayed to God and had faith that he would be saved. But somehow missed his chance three times! What if your answer is already here? What if you already missed my chance? What are the factors that could be causing us to not see our motorboat, rowboat then helicopter? One thing I’m certain of, is that I do not want to end up like this man. So here are three things that could be blinding us. 

Our Past Hurts

There are so many reasons why our past can stop us from wanting to look forward. Holding onto past glory can make us miss the next trophy. Feeling like our story is over can make us miss not picking up that pen and keep writing. Thinking that we have nothing left can have us not continue dreaming, pursuing or searching. But there’s so much more for us. It is not over and done. That answer to your next step may have been in front of you all along. We can’t let the past keep us back there.

Our Future Fears

There are many factors that can cause us to fear the future. And I get it. The unknown can sound scary. But we need to trust that no matter what, God has it all under control. We don’t know what’s coming and we don’t understand where, when or how. So it can be easy to just move along and be too scared to see what is yours. However, God did not give you the spirit of fear so when you are afraid know that God is not telling you to walk away. That is not from Him. 

Our Present Denials

We can deny our gifts. We can deny our blessings. We can deny what we deserve and our answer could be in that denial. We could be like that man on the boat and see our answer right in front of us and feel we don’t deserve it or feel that it’s not right for us to have it because we have done so many wrong things. Or maybe we feel that we’re not good enough for it. But don’t deny it because you do deserve it. It is yours for the taking.

Finally…

The man claimed to have a lot of faith in God. Faith in God is a major component to life. It is the greatest of all three. Faith, love and hope. But faith is not alone. Love for God and understanding who he is helps build a relationship with him, giving us an idea on what he wants for us and what he wants to give us. Hope in our heavenly father keeps us hanging on to the answer. It won’t always be in the way that we imagined it or think it will be here, but it will be here…or could already be.