He Will give Thee Answer to Thy Prayers – September 02, 2001
Dark nights are the ones that teach us the most about prayer.
Those are the times when other resources are exhausted, and we fall to our knees in humility, hoping God will hear us. In times of crisis or despair, prayer is like the strap we grasp in a rushing train or subway, lending us strength and stability.
Now, that doesn’t mean we’ll always receive what we ask for when we call upon God. Sometimes, no matter how hard we pray, a loved one dies. We pray for health, and it eludes us. We pray for reconciliation with others, and the gulf seems to grow wider. But calling on God means taking hold of the end of a line that leads directly to Him. We may not receive what we want, but what we will receive is God.
We pray to stand in the presence of our Father. Those who best meet the dark nights of are those who, with faith and hope, believe they can talk with God. They are the ones who unburden their hearts to Him. They approach Him humbly with all the hope, pain, or grief they have, knowing they’re heard.
When we pray “according to His will, He [hears] us.”1 The Lord has told us that when we are humble, He “shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answers to thy prayers.”2
Prayer may not change our circumstances, but it will change us. When we pray in humility, we enter the presence of God, and no one can do that without being changed—changed and strengthened for the dark nights of life.
Program #3759
1. I. John 5:14.
2. Doctrine and Covenants 112:10.