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Being Patient with God

Recently I was asked why God did not answer a prayer for help in a difficult situation. Why did God not work a miracle to heal someone who was suffering terribly? That is a question we must all face: apparently unanswered prayer where the prayer is for something good and, in human terms, entirely consistent with what we know of God as a loving Father. The standard answer (which also happens to be true) is that God hears all our prayers but the way in which He responds is not always the way we would choose. We are apt to forget that we pray that God's will may be done. Usually, what we want is our will to be done. There is nothing wong with that, of course, but we have to remember that the relationship between ourselves and God is not one of equals. God is supreme. We have to be patient, which is difficult, especially in our "instant gratification" society; we mustn't give up when we don't "succeed" but do as the gospels tell us and persevere in prayer. If you like paradoxes, you could call it being patient with God.