How Do I Know God's Answer?

This question has many answers written by famous men and women who have researched and sought out the truth.

I've learned the answer to this question a different way.

Let me explain something first.  Our time on earth can be brief or long, but time is inevitably on our hands when we seek an answer from God.

"Time" is a man-made invention; God knows no time.  He has eternity spreading out before Him.  "But my decision can't wait for eternity!" you may argue. And you are right.

God's "timing" is in His special plan for your life.  He is going to give you the answer right when you need it and not before.  He is going to wait and see how you grow from the experience.  We have the comfort of knowing that God will never put us through something He knows we can't handle.

As long as our hearts are in line with His will and plan for our life, we should never doubt that His answer is coming!  God directs our path, its our choice to react calmly in waiting or glare at the unopened door in our future and grumble impatiently.

I have learned countless times that pushing at a closed door only results with sore muscles.  And if I actually succeed in breaking down the defense of the closed door and pass through- my life becomes a total nightmare.  That is, until I repent.  But even after asking for forgiveness I still have to pay the price for my disobedience.  I can never get off the hook completely after intentionally pushing my way through one of God's doors.

I am a very visual person, so I am going to explain the image I see when someone says: "I gave my heart to God.".  I picture a heart with a gold band circling the edges (kind of like a diary) and at the bottom of this heart there is a lock with a small key in the keyhole.  Christ reaches out when we give Him our heart, He then twists the key, locking the heart and takes the key out of the lock and away with Him.

Our heart holds our most cherished desires and dreams, we give them to God freely and without reserve.  But when we want one of those desires we look up to God and nod our head while saying happily, "Okay, open it up and give it to me."

The look on God's face is like He didn't hear us, we quickly change tactics. "Of course, only if you want to." We smile and laugh slightly, trying to get His attention.  And we do, He nods to our last sentence and leans back, withholding the key.  We frown, "I gave this to you for you to protect, not hoard!" we begin to argue.

God looks down sadly at us, "You trusted me (your name), you gave me the key to your heart and I have guarded it well.  My plan for you does not include this desire right now, I have not led you astray before, I will not do it now."

We angrily shift our eyes up at Him, "I know I'm ready! Its my life!" we state adamantly.

Christ lets a tear fall from His eye before holding out the key and whispering "Make your choice my child, if you won't listen to me I will release you on yourself."

This is the moment that defines how we live our lives.  I would be ecstatic to say that Christ shed no more tears over this headstrong princess, that she suddenly realized her wrong actions and stepped back.  But this is life, we do make the wrong choices, we take the key sometimes and gloat as we hold our prize.

And sadly, God is right.  The worse action He could ever let us do is to allow us to follow our selfish hearts, for there is no doubt that we will destroy ourselves.  Thankfully, God always has a backup plan to give us a chance to return to Him- He is so merciful!

Are you waiting for an answer right now? Does God seem to be withholding the key?
Trust me, He will always give you an answer- as long as you wait for Him to unlock your heart.