Bring the Problem to God
“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
Jeremiah 33:3 (NIV)
Problems are part of life. Carrying them alone was never part of the plan.
Prayer is the access God has given us to His wisdom, His peace and His power, and it is astonishing how rarely we use it first. We worry. We turn the situation over at three in the morning. We make phone calls, search for information, consult everybody we know, and then, somewhere near the end of the list of options, we say, “Well, I suppose all we can do now is pray.”
God’s invitation runs in the opposite direction: “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
Notice where Jeremiah was when God said this. Read the first verse of the chapter: he was “still confined in the courtyard of the guard.” He was under arrest, in a city under siege, having spent his ministry delivering a message almost nobody wanted. This invitation was not given to a man in comfortable circumstances with time on his hands. It was given to a prisoner in a doomed city.
That should encourage you. The invitation to call on God does not require you to be in a good season, a strong frame of mind, or a tidy situation.
And notice what God promises: to tell him “great and unsearchable things you do not know.” The word suggests things fenced off, inaccessible, beyond ordinary reach. God is offering perspective that Jeremiah could not arrive at by thinking harder. That is the difference between prayer and worry. Worry is thinking harder about a problem with the same limited information. Prayer brings the problem to the One who sees what is fenced off from you.
So let us be practical about how to pray about a problem.
Be honest. Not pious, honest. God is not impressed by careful language and He is not fooled by it either. If you are frightened, say so. If you are angry, bring that too; the psalms are full of it. Psalm 62:8 says, “Pour out your hearts to him.”
Be specific. Vague prayer produces vague faith. “Lord, bless this situation” is not the same as “Lord, I need wisdom about this conversation on Thursday, I am afraid of how he will react, and I do not know whether to speak now or wait.” Specific prayer is answerable prayer, and it teaches you to recognise God’s hand when it moves.
Then give yourself time to listen. Most of us end prayer the moment we finish talking. Sit in silence for a few minutes. Have your Bible open. It is remarkable how often clarity comes not during the asking but in the quiet afterwards.
And how does God actually answer? Usually through ordinary means, and we should not despise them because they are ordinary. Through Scripture, which remains His clearest voice. Through wise counsel; Proverbs 11:14 says victory comes through many advisers. Through changed circumstances, doors opening and closing. Through a settled conviction in your heart that persists and does not contradict His Word. And often through the peace Paul describes in Philippians 4:6-7, the peace that guards your heart before the situation is resolved.
Note the promise in that passage carefully. Paul does not say pray and you will get what you asked for. He says pray about everything with thanksgiving, and the peace of God will guard you. The first answer to prayer is very often peace, not resolution.
Now let me guard something honestly, because this is where disappointment does its damage.
Trusting God means allowing Him to choose the answer. Sometimes He says yes. Sometimes He says no. Sometimes He says wait. Jesus Himself prayed in Gethsemane, “Take this cup from me,” and then, “yet not what I will, but what you will.” The Father’s answer to the Son that night was no, and the salvation of the world came through that no.
So faith is not the technique of getting God to agree with you. Faith believes His wisdom is greater than my preferred solution. Any teaching that guarantees the outcome if you pray correctly is setting people up to blame themselves when life does not comply.
And there is something else in this verse worth noticing. God says “I will answer you.” Not “I will fix it.” The primary promise is not a solution; it is a response, a conversation, a relationship. He gives Himself before He gives outcomes, and in the long run that is a far greater gift.
One more encouragement. You do not come to God as a stranger applying for consideration. Hebrews 4:16 says approach the throne of grace with confidence, because we have a great high priest who sympathises with our weaknesses. Romans 8:26 says that when we do not even know what to pray, the Spirit intercedes for us “through wordless groans.” On the days you cannot form the sentence, the prayer is still being made.
And be ready to obey what comes. Guidance you have no intention of following is not guidance you should ask for. James warns against being hearers only. If God answers, act.
Do not carry alone what God has invited you to bring. Call on Him first rather than last, listen carefully, and be ready to obey the answer He gives.
Prayer
Father, You invite me to call on You, and I confess that prayer has too often been my last resort instead of my first. Here is the situation, honestly and specifically. Here is what I am afraid of. Here is where I need wisdom I do not have. Show me the things that are fenced off from my sight. Guard my heart with Your peace even before anything changes. And where Your answer is not the one I wanted, help me to trust that Your wisdom is greater than my preferred solution. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Declaration
I will call on God first, not last. He answers, He gives peace, and His wisdom is greater than my preferred solution.
Pastor Ras
All Nations Community Church
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