Answers to Prayer II

A while back I referenced a talk by Elder Bednar, which beautifully explains how answers to prayer usually come "line upon line, precept upon precept." I love it. Because I just don't get big obvious answers very often.

Today, as icy road conditions keep us home from school and other activities, I stayed snuggled up in bed with my laptop, reading the online version of the latest Ensign. Which is how I came to read another great article about getting answers to prayer, based on a 2006 BYU devotional address given by Joseph Fielding McConkie.

Here are some of my favorite thoughts about prayer from "Finding Answers", Ensign, Feb. 2011, 28–32:

"There will be some instances when no sure answer comes. We have a series of revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants in which the Lord tells the early missionaries of this dispensation that some matters were to be left to their discretion. The phrase that is often repeated is “it mattereth not unto me” (D&C 60:5; 61:22; 62:5).

President Brigham Young explained this doctrine: “If I do not know the will of my Father, and what he requires of me in a certain transaction, if I ask him to give me wisdom concerning any requirement in life or in regard to my own course, or that of my friends, my family, my children, or those that I preside over, and get no answer from him, and then do the very best that my judgment will teach me, he is bound to own and honor that transaction, and he will do so to all intents and purposes.”

Loved this quote! I'm generally left to my "best judgement," which can be tricky. And sometimes I really really really want an answer. I've often heard about asking the right question, but I but don't think I understood what that really means. I interpreted questions in a linear way: ask A or an alternate to A. But if the appropriate question for the answer I need is so far from A it's more like Q... then finding the answer to A sure will be tricky.

Confused? Here's what Brother McConkie says:

"Few things facilitate getting the right answer like asking the right question. A mother told me a story about the disappointing behavior of a man after he had been called as a priesthood leader. “How,” she asked, “can I explain to my children that callings in this Church are inspired and at the same time explain the behavior of this man?”

While I share her concern over what took place, her question infers that if a leader makes a mistake then his calling was not inspired. Perhaps a better question would be: should my faith rest in the infallibility of priesthood leaders or in the assurance that if I keep my covenants, the Spirit of the Lord will always be my companion?

Often what stands between us and answers to our prayers is our failure to ask the right questions. Thus the role of the Holy Ghost is as important in determining what we pray about as it is in giving us the answers we seek."


Good stuff.