J.M.J.
Some of us find ourselves still waiting for God’s answer to our particular intentions or prayers even after months or years. If you can relate, I say that I feel you, because I’m like you. The silence of God, or not getting an answer from God, can go on for months, even years—whether we are looking for His answer in the happenings in our lives or trying to hear His voice, loud and clear, in our hearts. Perhaps we feel that we have already said countless decades of the Rosary and Novenas to the Saints, have been faithful to our devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and have offered Masses for our special intentions, but still, nothing from God. The praying and waiting go along with tearful disappointments, confusion and sadness.
How puzzling it is when we see other people having their prayers answered in a span of weeks, or even in just a matter of days! No matter how much we figure out why God saw it fitting that they acquire their blessings fast, we simply could not understand. Sometimes, there even seems no logical reason for this. We couldn’t help but compare at times, especially if we have been doing our part in praying and following the Commandments of God, probably even ‘more’ than those people have done.
But it’s not simply about exhausting the Catholic devotions, even though we pray them sincerely, and we live morally. It could be that God is directing us to have a better disposition in asking from Him. Or it could be this reason: God has an ‘epic’ plan in our lives, which we witness in the epic life of Elijah, my beloved Bible hero in the Old Testament.
I dedicate this Post to Elijah, whom I love, and have a strong devotion to. This piece is also in honor of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, the Little Flower of Jesus, on her Feast Day. She is one of the Patronesses of this Blog, and I personally refer to her as one of the ‘products’ of Mount Carmel, and one of the greatest treasures of the Carmelites—the Order that the loftiest prophet of the Old Testament ‘founded.’ The story of Elijah led me to deep dive on the Carmelite spirituality, which is the Catholic spirituality I’m most drawn to. I consider Prophet Elijah as my ‘spiritual grandfather,’ for I feel his great presence, guidance and inspiration in my life.
Waiting for God’s answer to unanswered prayers can make you feel like trailing a very long, unknown path, almost giving up. As for myself, in some days, I’m like ‘dying to know’ what God’s answer for me is, whether it’s a “Yes” or a “No.” To be left hanging by God’s complete silence is something that can be painful.
You might ask, ‘My God, when you will answer me? When will I finally hear Your voice?’ All these thoughts and feelings that you and I went through, or are going through, Elijah had gone through, too. But at the end of it all, his epic life was the will of God; a great plan that He has also for you and me. So before assuming that God has shunned us, turned a deaf ear, and closed all doors, we must “hope against hope” (Romans 4:18). And to be able to do that, we must have faith in God as a strong foundation.
We will all realize based on the selected parts of the narrative of Elijah, which is the main focus of this Post, that God listens to our every prayer, and He will answer us, and that His grace will come—even it means that it takes us to an epic journey in life.
Our Heroes in Scripture and in Literature
In the literary classics, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, both written by J.R.R. Tolkien, we see many of our much loved protagonists, such as Bilbo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee, endure through seemingly endless trials and emerge to triumph, starting as ordinary hobbits to becoming unlikely heroes. Their stories give us inspiration and manifest our hope in the Divine One and His Providence—our firm hope in God that He will eventually answer us. He will not abandon us, but take us back home as ‘heroes’ of our very own epic journeys.
Before our cherished literary classics even existed, the Scripture more profoundly tells us of an ‘epic’ example in the life of Elijah.
We encounter Elijah as he proclaimed a drought on Israel as the punishment of God for its apostasy. It would be tempting to think that during that period, Elijah would have it easy, as he was a servant of God. But the Lord knew exactly of His plan for him.
First, God commanded the most marvelous prophet to leave the nation and hide in Cherith where he had to wait for God’s order whenever. After some time, the prophet must be thrilled to receive God’s word next, which was to go to Zarephath. Again, he had to stay there indefinitely. In the third year of the drought, God commanded the prophet to stop the drought and go back to Israel, and present himself to its king, Ahab, whose wife, Jezebel, had been murdering the prophets of God.
Elijah gathered all Israel, with Ahab, and the hundreds of prophets of Baal for a challenge in Mount Carmel. He faithfully called on God to send down fire from Heaven:
“Answer me, LORD! Answer me, that this people may know that you, LORD, are God and that you have turned their hearts back to you.”
– 1 Kings 18:37
God indeed answered, and set fire upon Elijah’s offering. It convincingly prompted all the people to believe in the Lord once more. Then, having proven that the prophets of Baal were false and foolish, the fiery prophet of Mount Carmel slaughtered all of them. Afterward, Elijah perceived the sound of a heavy rain, before everyone else did. But he had to instruct his servant for a total of seven times to look out into the sea for its sign, before the heavy rain finally fell, ending the long drought.
Meanwhile, Jezebel got the news about her sidekicks, the dead prophets of Baal, and she undoubtedly wanted to kill Elijah as revenge. Fearing for his life, the prophet fled into the wilderness. But then, as he sat under the broom tree, he actually prayed for his death!
Think of this. For the past three years, Elijah did all that God commanded. He proclaimed a drought. He traveled from one place to another. He returned to Israel and restored the faith of the people in the True God. He eliminated all the prophets of Baal. He announced the end of the drought. Just when it seemed that he could now be at peace, he was back in grave danger. It seemed to him that all he could do was let himself die.
How Elijah felt at that point would seem familiar to anyone who has been going through very tough times, yearning to feel God’s presence amid the dark night of one’s soul, or awaiting God’s answer to a longtime prayer.
But God did not forsake his most zealous servant Elijah. He sent an Angel twice to save his life, provided him with nourishment, and led him to Mount Horeb, or Sinai:
There he came to a cave, where he took shelter. But the word of the LORD came to him: Why are you here, Elijah?
He answered: “I have been most zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts, but the Israelites have forsaken your covenant. They have destroyed your altars and murdered your prophets by the sword. I alone remain, and they seek to take my life.”
– 1 Kings 19:9-10
It took Elijah forty days and nights to reach Mount Sinai, but when he got there, God’s message was one of waiting again:
Then the LORD said: Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will pass by.
– 1 Kings 19:11
Elijah is not ‘new’ to ‘waiting’ for God. After all, he patiently waited for God’s commands, such as for the drought to pass, or for any sign of rain to appear until it fell again. But imagine how difficult it must have been for him to withstand the wind, the rocks, the earthquake, and the fire, as he awaited God! Through it all, Elijah steadfastly waited for the Lord, until he had finally encountered Him.
There was a strong and violent wind rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD—but the LORD was not in the wind; after the wind, an earthquake—but the LORD was not in the earthquake;after the earthquake, fire—but the LORD was not in the fire; after the fire, a light silent sound.
– 1 Kings 19:11-12
There’s a lot more drama in the life of Prophet Elijah later on. But the journey of Elijah ultimately took a different turn in Mount Carmel as God had started a new chapter in his epic story in a very extraordinary way—the Lord took up the prophet to Heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:1), with his body and soul, as a fiery chariot and fiery horses came (2 Kings 2:11). In Roman Catholic eschatology and Sacred Tradition, it is implied in the books of the Bible that Elijah, along with Enoch, who was the great grandfather of Noah, will return before the end of the world to battle the Antichrist on earth.
What we can learn from the story of Elijah in waiting for God’s answer to our prayers:
1. Grow in faith, hope and obedience as we wait
Much can be said why Elijah was a most zealous servant of God. One is because of the earnestness by which he exhibited his faith, hope and obedience to God all throughout the ‘wait.’
As he was waiting for the next command of the Lord to him, Elijah was firm in faith in God’s word that the jar of flour and the jug of oil would not go empty; that the cake it would make would be enough for a long time for him, for the widow who took care of him in her household, and for her son. As God said, ever true to His promise, it did last for almost 3 years, which was the duration of the drought.
How could one prophet in Mount Carmel defeat a mob of occult prophets of Baal if not for his immense faith in his prayer to God that was his supreme weapon? It was with a most sincere hope that he confidently asked the servant to look out into the sea for a sign, seven times in all. And it was his utmost obedience to God that pushed him to walk to Mount Sinai and ultimately led him to a personal encounter with God Himself. And without a doubt, it was with a most zealous love, the most important of all, that Elijah went through everything for God and His people.
God is always wise for making us wait for the answers to our prayers even we may not realize it. I think one reason He makes us wait is not just to test us, but to enable us to grow in virtues that are necessary to fight. These virtues will help us combat the modern day evils of this world, which become the false gods of unguarded worldlings, and relentlessly live in the service of God, by works of charity or love on earth, just like Elijah did. So when the Lord seems not to respond, know that He is still ‘answering’ to our other needs like spiritual growth.
2. Pray without ceasing
It had always been evident in the life of Elijah, the most fiery biblical figure of the Old Testament, that he was constantly armed with prayer. In the other parts of his narrative, Elijah cried out to God in prayer when the widow’s son died. He did not fully understand why God would allow it, but he prayed nevertheless. God then brought the breath of life back into the boy. In front of all of Israel, Elijah made an impassioned plea to God to reveal Himself and He did answer in a most striking way. And even when he wished to die, he offered a prayer to God. In his every step, Elijah prayed.
He called out to the LORD: “LORD, my God, will you afflict even the widow with whom I am staying by killing her son?”
Then he stretched himself out upon the child three times and he called out to the LORD: “LORD, my God, let the life breath return to the body of this child.”
The LORD heard the prayer of Elijah; the life breath returned to the child’s body and he lived.
– 1 Kings 17:20-22
We, too, should be encouraged to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17), despite our sadness in waiting for God to answer our prayers. And each time we pray, we must trust in God. For praying to God without believing that He will listen is like planting a tree without expecting it to bear fruit. Why even bother? Therefore, let us pray like Elijah, who lived constantly in the presence of God, and the “persistent widow” in the parable, for Jesus said,
It is necessary to pray always without becoming weary.
– Luke 18:1
3. God is always ahead of us
A number of times, it seemed that Elijah could die during the critical moments—from drought, from the hands of his enemies, from starvation. But God arrived just in time for him. At times, we feel like telling God to hurry and answer our prayer according to our own timetable. His time plan, however, might be different from ours. God has foreseen our future for all eternity, and not a moment of time escapes Him. We must believe that God’s answer, whatever it is, will always arrive in time, and we will know it when that day comes for God will tell us, ‘Now is My time.’ In fact, God is already there ahead of us.
4. Rely on God in everything
God knew what the prophet would need the most during the years of drought, and His providential supply for him did not run out—through the ravens and the faithful widow. But we can rely on God, not only for the material things.
When Elijah prayed to the Lord to send down fire from Heaven to burn his offering and prove to all of Israel that He was the true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel did not put him to shame. As all eyes were on him, the prophet relied solely on God. There might come a time when we would feel that other people are laughing at us for not getting the righteous desire or noble intention that we are asking for in prayer. Let’s say, a married couple is looked down by others for remaining childless after years. If the couple does not resort to immoral means of having children, thru IVF and surrogacy, for example, in keeping with the Commandments of God and out of their love for Him, and turn to prayer instead, like for example, to St. Thérèse of Lisieux (or of the Child Jesus), who many couples bear witness that her intercession helped them conceive, and to the holy parents of this Carmelite Nun, Saints Louis and Zélie Martin, we believe with much devotion that God will not fail them and will bless them with a child one day. And if His will does not permit it, God shall redeem them and all those who faithfully rely on Him according to His holy plan for the ultimate good of their souls.
5. God’s answer is always worth the wait
The Lord commanded Elijah to go out of the cave and stand by the mountain because the Lord would pass by. It would be understandable to think that Elijah would find God arriving in a dramatic reveal—like a violent wind storm, an earthquake, a big fire. But God was not in any of those. Instead, the Holy Spirit arrived to Him in “a light silent sound,” in the New American Bible, or in the Douay-Rheims Bible, “a whistling of a gentle air.”
Elijah stood there alone, waiting for God, as natural calamities passed by him. But when God finally answered and revealed Himself in a gentle breeze, Elijah’s feeling must have been indescribably good and inexplicably holy.
While awaiting God’s response to our prayer, it is like God is sending us to our own epic journeys—successions of joys and sorrows, happiness and heartaches, successes and disappointments. But dramas and ‘disasters’ must not dishearten us from waiting for God’s answer. Because one day, God will answer, and like “a whistling of a gentle air,” it will be smooth and perfect. The Lord’s answer will be clear and reassuring, that the dramas and disasters of the past would be nothing but mere memories. Triumph awaits the faithful. The wait is all worth it.
6. Do not compare with others
Let us also stop comparing ourselves to others who got their graces the ‘easier’ way or ‘faster.’
Here, I will share with you my own metaphor for this:
Imagine that God tells a person to search for a promised grace inside a small room. He easily finds it inside the room in almost no time, receiving the grace fast.
God tells the next person to search for the promised grace from Him in a seven-story building. While it might take time and effort to search among the rooms and across floors, it only takes an hour or a few more to find it. Not as fast, but still quick enough.
This time, God tells a person to search for His promised grace in the vast fields of barley. Now, it might take a day or even weeks to find it. But with much diligence, the grace seems within reach.
Then comes your turn. But imagine that God tells you to search the world to find the promised grace He is giving you. You’ll be like, ‘But that would take me forever to do so!’
First, God’s plan for each person is unique; and so is His timing. The Lord, depending on the grace that He wills to give us, knows exactly what it takes and how long it takes for us to get hold of it. But remember that in everything, we must decide to cooperate with the will of God—even He sends us out to the world, just as He sent Elijah to walk by foot to various places that took him days and nights to reach, amid all sorts of danger, and to serve as a devoted prophet to His people, surrounded by evil enemies.
Of course, my example is just a metaphor. Searching the ‘world’ could just mean going through the dramas in your life; feeling as if you are carrying the weight of the world, as you await God to send you His grace. Or who knows, like missionaries, you’d be surprised that God indeed desires to send you to a different country wherein you will find the answer or grace you have been waiting for all your life. Whichever the case may be, do not be disheartened. And whatever it takes, no matter how long, God will provide for us, and He will sustain us, to whatever grace He is leading us to.
7. God is the Writer of our very own epic stories
Like I mentioned earlier, in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, there are heroes. For example, a hobbit named Bilbo is sent on a mission, he learns more about himself, he faces dragons and other monsters, kills them, and much later on, he faces a critical moment wherein death seems imminent, but his companions, surprising helpers, and a form of Divine Intervention (like Gandalf’s aid) arrives in time to save him. The mission is accomplished and he goes home a ‘celebrated hero’ with the sweet memories of all his adventures, and he writes about it to be shared to the next generation (say, Frodo Baggins, his nephew).
And the above is the usual storyline for heroes in most adventure stories in novels, plays, films and other narrative forms.
The story of Elijah the Tishbite (1 Kings 17:1), which happened in the ancient time, makes such idea less of a fantasy and more of a reality. God sent him on a mission, he went through a spiritual pilgrimage, wherein his spiritual life deepened, he killed the prophets of Baal, and later on, an Angel helped him through Divine Intervention. He anointed the next one, Elisha. And went home to Mount Carmel, wherein God took him up to Heaven in a whirlwind. His story had also been written in the Bible to forever inspire Christians.
Our lives can become ‘epic’ that is full of dramatic twists and turns, but we must completely trust God, the Writer who has written down everything in His book, who is said in Psalm 139, has shaped our days before one came to be (Psalms 139:16). Where we are right now at this point in our lives, as long as we know in ourselves that we are following the Commandments, is where God really intends to put us, according to a hidden judgement of His, as He is trying to accomplish in us something that only He knows, for He alone is God.
More than the particular temporal graces that we have been praying for, we must pray for success in accomplishing our true God-given mission as pilgrims of this earth. God desires for each of us to become holier as we go through all the events in our lives and ultimately become ‘heroes’ or saints in the culmination of our epic stories.
***
The sweet will of God brought the ‘epic’ Prophet Elijah to Heaven, by picking him up with the Chariot of Fire. We must trust too, that no matter how long God answers our prayers, every step in this epic journey on earth makes it a step nearer for us to the blessed kingdom of Heaven, our true home for all eternity, and that the graces God grants us are always for the good of our souls.
Prophet Elijah, the Founder of the Carmelite ideal, the Father of All Carmelites, and Patron of the Carmelite Order, pray for us!
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us!
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, the Little Flower of Jesus, a product of love of Mount Carmel, a treasure of the Carmelites, a Patroness of www.TheBestCatholic.com, my spiritual sister, pray for us!
Saint Joseph, pray for us!
Blessed Virgin Mary, the Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us!
Amen.
She graduated cum laude from the University of Santo Tomas, the country's Pontifical and Catholic university, with an AB in Legal Management and minor units in Theology.
As an unmarried woman, prayer holds a central place in her daily life, with a focus on the Rosary and the Divine Office. Embodying her faith, she emphasizes the growth of her inner spiritual life, guided by the wisdom of Carmelite spirituality.
God manifested to her in a unique and radical manner, which made her know Who He truly is and led her to total surrender of her life to Him.
She has studied the Bible with her family, developing a particular fondness for the Old Testament.
Her adorable and intelligent toy poodle is a delightful companion in her daily life, bringing warmth and joy to her home.
Her hobbies include reading about everything, learning Japanese and German, listening to music and playing the flute.
In her leisure time, she enjoys gaming on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch OLED, Nintendo 3DS, iOS and OS, and collecting things related to PlayStation and Nintendo.
Email: [email protected]
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I pray for for mercy . Forgive me my sins lord jesus Chris . It will never happen again. Please God answer my prayers break any curse out of my life our life. Put all enemies to shame thank you jesus Chris amen