What to pray when we want circumstances to change

Do you pray for circumstances to change?

Or do you pray for a heart change?

I know which one I gravitate towards naturally. We all do.

We all desire life to be easier, more comfortable, for situations to suit our plans and our idea of what is good and right.

When things don’t go the way we want or had expected, we ask God to take them away, make them more palatable, and we ask others to pray that for us too.

That’s pretty natural and I’m sure the Lord understands that. He hears our desires and He loves to bless us and provide and meet those physical needs.

But I’m starting to learn (and then forgetting again with each new challenge!) that His goal, above and beyond our comfort and ease in this life, is to bless us with every spiritual blessing (Eph 1:3). To give us a precious and incorruptible inheritance for eternity (1 Pet 1:4).

Although He cares intimately about every detail of our life, and nothing goes unseen by Him, He also longs to bless us with the true life He has for us.

He longs to fill us with His Spirit so that we can experience love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:22-23).

That might mean our situation doesn’t change - that the physical circumstances we are experiencing are not removed from us. But instead, we develop peace in the midst of trials. Or joy under pressure and difficulty. Or patience with others who are rubbing us up the wrong way.

Instead of taking away the unpleasant difficulties we face, sometimes His desire and plan is to use those very difficulties to mold us, grow us, refine us, so that our faith can become like gold that has been tested by fire (1 Peter 1:7).

That is why James says: ‘My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing’. (James 1:2-4).

Is there a situation you’re facing that you’ve asked God repeatedly to change? A difficulty you’ve asked Him to remove? A person or relationship you’ve pleaded with Him to make easier to bear?

Have you asked Him what He’s doing through that situation? What His deepest desire is for you? What are the blessings that He longs to bring into your life through those circumstances?

Of course, it may be that a situation has arisen because of our own actions and decisions that were made knowingly without committing them to Him or going directly against His best. The enemy can gain access into our lives in numerous ways, primarily through our own or someone else’s sin, and in those situations it is vital to close the door to him through repenting, accepting Jesus’ free gift of forgiveness and resisting him in that area.

However, at other times, difficulties that we face are lovingly allowed by our Father so that we can receive His blessing through them if we cooperate with Him.

In these cases, it’s important to remember that as a loving Father, He doesn’t allow us to suffer meaninglessly. In fact, His deepest desire is to bless us and make us like Jesus so that we can say with confidence that in everything He has good and perfect plans for our lives.

I have experienced this many times in my own life, but the most striking example from recent years has definitely been all that I went through with the pregnancy, labour and delivery of my second child (I share about this in detail in this post). Through a time of immense difficulty, physical and emotional, I came to see how much blessing God wanted to bring into my life, and He chose to use these circumstances to do that.

If you know that the situation you’re facing is not a result of sin or an opening that the enemy has been given in your life, instead of asking Him to take away a situation, why not bring it before Him and ask Him what He wants to do through it? How He intends to use it for your good? What the unseen plans and purposes are that He is working together for you and perhaps many others behind the scenes.

Instead of wondering why God doesn’t hear us and change our situations, let’s come to Him with expectancy, reminding ourselves that He is a perfect and utterly loving Father who works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

As we do so, perhaps we will discover that those plans are exceedingly abundantly above anything that we could ask or imagine (Eph 3:20).

Eshet Chayil

Encouraging women to trust God fully, obey courageously and live wholeheartedly for Him.

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