Waiting on an Answer You Already Have

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E V O T I O N A L

I prayed about something for three weeks that I already knew the answer to.

I dressed it up well. I was seeking wisdom. I was waiting on confirmation. I wanted to be sure before I moved, which sounds spiritually mature right up until you examine it honestly. Because underneath all of that, I knew exactly what I was supposed to do. I had known since about day two.

What I was actually doing was hoping He would change His mind.

That is not seeking. That is negotiating. And I have gotten pretty good at making one look like the other.

I think a lot of us do this. We take something we already know, something that is not even remotely unclear, and we turn it into a prayer request so we can keep sitting with it a little longer. Should I apologize to that person. Should I stop that thing I keep doing. Should I have the conversation I have been dodging. Should I give where I feel the nudge to give.

Those are not questions. We know. We are just hoping for a loophole.

And God, to His credit, rarely gives us one. He does not usually repeat Himself either. He tends to say a thing once and then wait, which can feel like silence when it is actually patience.

James 1:22 puts it plainly. “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.”

Fooling yourselves. That phrasing has teeth, and I think it is aimed at exactly this. The self-deception is not that we do not know. It is that we have convinced ourselves the knowing counts for something.

To be fair, there is real discernment and it matters. Some decisions genuinely are unclear and waiting on God is the right move. Scripture is full of people asking Him for wisdom and getting it. I am not talking about those.

I am talking about the ones where you feel that small, steady sense of what you should do, and instead of doing it you ask again, in slightly different words, hoping for a softer answer.

How do you tell them apart? For me it is usually simple. If I am praying about something and I would be disappointed to hear a clear yes, I already know the answer and I do not like it. Genuine uncertainty feels open. Stalling feels like dread with a prayer wrapped around it.

So here is the whole thing for today. Think about what you have been asking God about lately. Not the hard ones. The one you keep bringing back that He has already addressed.

Stop asking. Go do it.

He said it the first time. He is just waiting on you now.

Much love and blessings,

Ramzi

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The apology you have been praying about at home is not a discernment issue. Go make it.

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If you have been asking God whether to set a boundary with someone, you probably already know. Clarity usually arrived before the prayer did.

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If you have been praying about getting help instead of getting it, that nudge has been the answer for a while now. Make the call.

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The spending you keep asking God to bless, or the generosity you keep asking Him to confirm, is rarely actually unclear. Act on what you know.

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The habit you have been praying about changing does not need more prayer. It needs a decision.

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If a clear yes would disappoint you, you already have your answer.

Lord, You know the thing I keep bringing back to You that You already answered. Forgive me for calling it discernment when it was really just stalling. Give me the courage to act on what I already know instead of waiting for a version of Your answer I like better. Amen.