Did I tell you we're remodeling? I don't think so. We've decided to turn our family room into a large country-style kitchen. Our old kitchen is very small and so that will become an office/reading area. The idea came from a friend of ours. He's helping us do a lot of the work. I'd never tackle such a project on my own.

In your last letter you posed an appropriate question in light of our recent exchange of ideas on the subject of pain and suffering. Most people of faith struggle with the question you pose. I know I do. Why doesn't God answer more of our prayers? I can't give you a clear and completely satisfying answer. I agree that sometimes it feels as though God's not even there listening.

I've had enough prayers go seemingly unanswered that I've studied up on the subject. I've also used the advantage of 20/20 hindsight to study my prayer requests of the past to try and figure out why God didn't answer the way I wanted Him to.

In some cases I can see that it was good I didn't get what I was asking for. While attending seminary near Chicago over two decades ago, I prayed that God would help us start a new church near where we lived. I figured that upon graduation from seminary we wouldn't have to go in search of a church to pastor but would continue the work we had started. We poured ourselves into the effort, holding outdoor services the summer of '74. But it was clear by early fall that it was not to be. I was disappointed. A year later, upon graduation, we accepted the call to the church in Toledo which we have served ever since. I now see that God wanted us here, something I couldn't see back then. God's "No!" to my plan allowed me to experience the "Yes!" to His better plan.

Sometimes I've sensed that God says "Wait!" to my request. In the first ten or so years of ministry at our church we didn't experience either the spiritual or numerical growth I had hoped for. I recall praying on many occasions (pleading might be a better word) to God that He would make things happen. I couldn't understand it. We were trying to do all the right things to build a healthy, dynamic, growing church, but the results just were not there. Since then we've experienced slow but steady growth. The greater number of people, programs and staff is a challenge. I'm not certain that a younger Dave Claassen would have been prepared for that challenge. I'm of the conviction that this is one of those times in my life when God said to wait.

If God were nothing more than the Great Cosmic Force I suppose we should expect instant and automatic results from Him. But God's not a divine vending machine, unthinkingly dispensing anything and everything we want. He's more like a wise parent who weighs the request of the child, providing what the child needs, not caving in to what the child wants. This sometimes results in a "No" answer or a "Wait" answer.

When my kids were young they would ask for a sweet treat before dinner, and I'd have to say no. Any explanation of a ruined appetite for vegetables fell on deaf ears. We'd have them help with raking leaves in the fall, and always they would want to stop too soon. My response that they would have to wait to quit until the job was finished was usually met with grumbling and complaining. Any explanation on my part of the need to establish good work habits that would prove valuable in later years didn't register at all. It seems to me that God, being the wise Father He is, forgoes any explanation for answers to our prayers that He knows will be unpopular. In most cases we're not capable of understanding, but we are capable of trust and obedience.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure how confident I would be in making requests of God if I knew He wouldn't first assess them in view of His perfect wisdom and love. Am I 100% sure I should have what I want? Not often. The fact that I don't always get what I want from God shouldn't make me doubt Him; it should prompt me to deepen my trust in Him. Of course, that's the ideal response. Like my kids, I often find myself grumbling and complaining. I don't have any excuse other than to plead that I'm still not all grown up.

I need to go to the lumberyard and get some supplies for my friend who's helping us remodel. He's given me a list but I haven’t a clue as to why I’m buying some of the items.

A fellow seeker after truth,
Dave