As common as answered prayer may be, stopping to acknowledge and savor those answers is exceptional

2 min read

God deserves praise,
for he did not reject my prayer
or abandon his love for me. -Psalm 66:20

Have you noticed this weird thing that sometimes happens after you’ve prayed for something, God graciously answers, and then shortly thereafter it’s not a big deal anymore?

Strange, isn’t it?

It’s like after we have what we requested of God “in the bag,” we soon forget how important it was to us beforehand and how passionately we prayed for it.

Even though it may have been an amazingly spot-on answer to our prayer, after the fact, we no longer see it. Whether it’s because we rationalize that maybe it happened for reasons other than God’s involvement, or maybe just because our celebrations don’t last as long as they used to, we move on without properly acknowledging what just happened and Who is responsible.

This phenomenon – common to all believers – is illustrated by the story of the 10 men Jesus healed of leprosy. As the story goes, after the healing, nine of them – with a brand new lease on life – kept on moving without ever going back to Jesus to say “Thank you” or “Wow, that was amazing what you just did there.”

Only one person went back to Jesus to properly process the magnitude of what just happened. Only one savored the sweet taste of a big-time answer to prayer.

The reason we need to push back on downplaying answers to prayer is because yesterday’s answers to prayer, whether big or small, serve as today’s reasons to trust God and give him praise. No doubt, new needs will arise and new prayer requests with them, but the longer we dwell on it when God has kindly and powerfully shown up on our behalf, the better it will be.

Let’s ask God to do what only He can do in us and for us today. And when He does, let’s savor it for a day, or two, or maybe three.

It’s a new day with God. Run with it.