Devotions with Pastor Donny Woodbridge

“For my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
(Isaiah 55:8–9)

We all have memories of thankfulness for answered prayers in our lives. Have you ever been thankful for unanswered prayers? Sometimes God denies my prayers because He has something even better for me. I breathe an easy amen to God’s promise through Jeremiah, “I know the plans I have for you . . . plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” I think of an old prayer which goes, “O Lord, you know what is best for me. Give what you will, how much you will and when you will.”

I love the quote from Billy Graham’s wife Ruth where she says that “God has not always answered my prayers. If He had, I would have married the wrong man several times!” With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, what heaven thumping prayers are there in your past that you are now grateful God ignored? Is it possible that the reason for your unanswered prayers is that God has a “higher way”? If so, we should ask Him to help us trust His alternative plan, even if every fiber of our being wants something completely different.

In the midst of personal struggle and suffering it’s not always easy to believe that God has plans to give you hope and a future. Who do you know is in this place right now, whether that’s because of grief or sickness, financial difficulties, the breakdown of a relationship or something else entirely? Please name them before the Lord today, and pray that they will not only believe the promises to Jeremiah, but that they will risk receiving it for themselves.

Pastor Donny