Last week, I attended a forum organized by the Brazilian Bible Society (Sociedade Bíblica do Brasil – SBB). The theme of the forum was “Bible and Missions”.

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Although it was their eighth forum, it was the first one I attended. And it had an impact on me.

They talked a lot about the relation between the Bible and missions, and how it is important to have at least portions of the Word of God translated into the local language when the missionaries go to the field.

Several people talked about their own experiences as translators, working for years in a translation, sometimes of only one portion of the Bible.

They also shared about the difficulty of translating words and expressions that don’t exist in the language they’re working with. They have to come up with a translation that is understandable by the local readers and that remains faithful to the message of the originals.

And they also shared about the joy of the people who, after many years deprived of a Bible in their own language, were able to finally get it, sometimes only the New Testament. But for them, it was reason enough to be joyful.

Sometimes we wonder. We pray, we beg, we pour our hearts to God, but nothing happens. We face sleepless nights, but it seems that God is oblivious to our suffering. So how do we know that He has even heard our prayers?

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The answer to that question is actually simple. He always hears our prayers, all of them. Every single time.

And you know what? He always answers our prayers, all of them. Yes, He does.

The moment the prayer is taking shape in our minds, He is already responding: “yes”, “no” or “not yet”. Then why does it feel that sometimes God doesn’t listen or doesn’t respond at all?

Actually, there are two issues that impact our perception of God’s response:

Justice for us has always been a relative matter. When we claim it, it’s usually because we think that the facts are in our favor. And in that case, if we don’t get it, then it is unfair.

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I love sports. My favorite ones are coletive sports, like soccer, volleyball and baseball. And I’ve seen many times the referree making a wrong call in favor of my team’s opponent. Then I get mad, complain that it is not fair, and depending on the importance of the game and how my team was affected, I talk about it with my friends for days.

But sometimes, the referree makes a wrong call in favor of my team. Although I still think it is not fair, I don’t complain about it, at all.

It is not about justice, it is about winning.

Have you ever watched a movie or TV show that shows legal trials? Many of them show how lawyers manipulate the facts in order to get a veridict in their favor. And although I have no contact with the legal system nor here in Brazil neither anywhere else, I can see how those fiction shows are not far from what happens in real life.

It is not about justice, it is about winning.

For a few weeks, a fellow christian from a congregation near mine had been in the ICU. Her situation grew more and more severe after she was admitted at the hospital. Several churches, including mine, had been praying for her, asking God to intervene and restore her health.

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On Monday, we were all shocked by the news that she had passed away. In spite of all the requests from the people of several churches, God chose to say “no”.

Something like this might make people question God’s decision. How could a loving God allow people to go through a tough time like this, if He can prevent it?

We will never be able to understand God and why He makes His decisions. But as a loving God, He revealed a lot about Himself to us in order that we have a tiny glimpse of Him through the books of the Bible. We are still not able to fully understand Him (and we never will), but we have enough information to know that, no matter what happens, he is indeed a loving God and He always makes the best decisions.

There is one book in the Bible that deals specifically with our difficulty in understanding suffering: Job.

Jesus came to earth to save mankind and show us God’s love. He offered His life as a sacrifice for our sins, so we could be redeemed.

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If anyone would ever request God a proof of His love, I am sure there couldn’t be a greater proof than sending His own Son to die for us. And what about us? Can we do something to show our love for God?

In fact, we can:

“If you love me, you will obey what I command.” (John 14:15)

This is love for God: to obey his commands. (1 John 5:3)

And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. (2 John 1:6)

Do you love God? Do you love Jesus? Then, according to Him, you will obey His commands. It’s that simple.

And this is not about proving our love so we are worthy of anything. We will never be worthy of His love. But when we show our love for Him, we are giving back something that He gave to us: true love.

Have you noticed how our culture became the culture of “I”? Everything is about oneself. Everyone is trying to find pleasure, happiness, satisfaction – for themselves. People talk a lot about love, but do they have love in their lives?

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Try to ask someone how they know that they love someone else. They will tell you all about how they feel when they think about that person or when they are together. What if that feeling vanishes? Does it mean that their love is gone? If so, was that ever love, true love?

More and more we see that the focus is on ourselves. However, Jesus taught us the exact opposite: love is all about the other person. And it’s not about what we feel, but it’s about what we do.

A while back we talked about how love means action, not just a feeling or words. That’s what Jesus showed us with his own life. And there is another lesson that we must learn regarding love: it is completely selfless.

About ten years ago, I was going through a tough time at work. I was praying to God asking Him to change something, because I was tired and bored with the job I was doing and I wanted Him to change something, anything. I needed something different. But nothing was happening, so I asked God why He didn’t answer my prayers.

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Then one day I was watching an episode of the series “Touched by an Angel” when the character Monica, who was an angel at that TV show, said this to her assignment:

“Every prayer is answered. But sometimes the answer is ‘no’. And sometimes the answer is ‘not yet'”.

Not in my wildest dreams I would have expected God to talk to me through a TV angel! But I got it. The moment she said the words I realized, without a doubt, that the answer to my prayer was ‘not yet’…

At that moment I realized that God does answer all prayers, I just didn’t “count” it unless the answer was “yes”.

And soon I realized that I have a really hard time handling the answer when it is “not yet”.

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:31-33)

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We have already talked before about our treasure, the things that are really important to us. And also about handling money. And in my previous post, I shared about the recent scandals in Brazil involving leaders that are being accused of using their churches financial resources for their own benefit.

Looking at the accusations, and the way that those leaders react, it’s the complete opposite of what Jesus has told us to do in the verses of Matthew 6:31-33. According to those verses, they’re behaving like pagans, not like God’s children.

But Jesus is emphatic in those verses: we must seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. That should be our goal in life.