God, who knows all things, knows the end from the beginning. He knows whether or not a person just lacks the opportunity to hear and be touched by the message of the gospel or whether they are hard-hearted and rebellious. He knows whether or not our children will listen to our words of wisdom. Therefore, the answers to our requests must be dependent on the value of our requests to accomplish the desires of our hearts. In addition, another faithful servant may be in a better situation to accomplish the task of our hearts than us. God knows this and the fact that we may want the time and health to serve in some way gives the proper motivation, but cannot give us the knowledge of the outcome to which He, alone, is privy. For this reason, we must trust God to know that He will intervene if he wills it.
This intervention may involve the Holy Spirit but it certainly is not exclusively his role. The critical mistake, today, is not differentiating the fulfilled work of the Holy Spirit that is recorded in pages of the Bible that characterized the first century period and the activity of God among men in today’s world. The activity of God may put some resolve or thought in a person’s heart (though not against his will), bring someone along beside you for consolation, encouragement, or instruction, grant you wisdom in your choice of approach, or make a grave decision that impacts life. He may guide the decisions and ability of a doctor in the distribution of their care or “providentially hinder” the timely action of our schedules to avoid some conflict or accident. For this reason, we may pray for guidance, wisdom, protection, healing, financial provision, including daily care of food, clothing, and shelter.
However, the divine working of God that grants the desires of our heart does not necessitate the working of a miracle. Those days are past and the guarantee of sonship and approval (the gift of the Holy Spirit) has returned since the promised payment has been received. Jesus has returned to render judgment, consummate the marriage with the bride, and commence his reign in New Jerusalem with the new Israel of God that is composed of Jews and Gentiles in one body. This has all been fulfilled in the first resurrection of Revelation 20. Therefore, we must not expect a change in His dealings with the human race until after that “thousand-year reign with the saints” and the “loosing of Satan.”
In conclusion, we must recognize that God requires our complete faith in Him. We know He cares. We know He is not the author of the pain, hurt, and tears that we experience in life. We know He does not tempt us to sin. We know that He does not allow us to be tempted above what we are able to bear. We know that with every temptation, He has made a way of escape. The details, timing, or reasons that inquiring minds what to know is the cause of doubts and confusion. We do not need to know and in some case, it may not be in our interest if we did know. Given all the knowledge we have of our Father, we trust Him that He knows what is best. If He does not intervene, we can be assured that there is a reason. As far as we are concerned, we just need to be sure that we do our part (pray in faith, not ask amiss, etc.).