Pray for the Lesson

When we are stuck in a hard situation, our prayers usually sound like a request for an exit. Get me out of this job. Fix this relationship. Make this stop. That is an honest prayer, and God hears it.

But there is another prayer worth adding. Lord, what do you want to teach me here? Sometimes the reason we keep ending up in the same kind of situation is that we left the last one before we learned what God was teaching.

James says, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.” The trial is working something in us.

The psalmist looked back and said, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.” He didn’t enjoy the affliction. But he valued what it taught him. Ask for the lesson, not only the exit.