Answer Envy

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3 (NIV)

Do you ever envy God’s answers to someone else’s prayers?

I remember almost choking on the words, “I am so happy for you!” in response to the breaking news that friends of ours from North Carolina had sold their house after it had been on the market for twenty days.  To them it had been a long twenty days. Houses were normally snatched up quickly in their area. In our shaky West Texas economy, however, it takes a bit longer. In fact, on the day she announced that her home now had a “sold” sign in the front yard, we turned another page on our calendar — marking how long our house had been for sale. Not twenty days, but twenty months to be exact.

Although I was genuinely thrilled for my friend, I was also a tad green with jealousy.  I call this answer envy. It is that “poor me” mentality that creeps into my heart when God answers someone else’s prayers more quickly than mine. Or when He responds to them with a “yes” but His answer seems to be a “no” for me, or at least a “not right now.”

I’ve had my fair share of answer envy outbreaks over the years, at all stages of life.  Over the years I have discovered that the cure for answer envy is not always easy because I must play an active role in my own healing.  What I need is a shift in perspective. When I “call to God” as encouraged in the verse above, I must trust that He will keep His word. He will tell me “great and unsearchable things” that I do not know. Sometimes those things are the answers to my request. However, do you know what those great and unsearchable things more often are? They are the reasons He seems not to be answering my original request!

So, instead of only begging God to “sell my house” or “take away my pain” or “fix my kid,” I need also to ask myself some questions. Questions like – “What is my Creator trying to teach me that I might never learn if He were to suddenly pluck me out of this situation?” Or -  “What character qualities is He trying to grow in me? Patience, trust, compassion, contentment?”
Not available in quick microwave form, the cure for answer envy must be cultivated moment by moment.  We must believe that God will answer. He will clearly say “yes,” “no,” or “not right now.” He is able, ready and willing to answer our prayers — here is the catch — as He sees fit and to grow us to be more like His Son in the process.

It took two years until our “for sale” sign was finally replaced with a “sold” banner. It was a long stay in God’s waiting room. However, I now know this to be true: I must not merely seek the answer to my prayer. Instead, I must seek a deeper relationship with the answer Giver.

Dear Lord, thank You for Your perfect plans… Your perfect timing… and the perfect way Your development happens in my times of waiting. Grant us patience and understanding.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Casey Dacus
Graham, TX