“Call to me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things which you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3

The Answer of Affliction

Answer – Hebrew is a language written without vowels.  The vowels and the correct pronunciation are added, usually from memory, to the written consonants.  That means many words look the same as they are written but are really quite different when the vowels are added.  Look at this:  FR GD S LVD TH WRLD.  You can read it without the vowels because you know what it is supposed to say from memory.  But think of how many different vowels could be used.

This brings us to the word for “answer”.  It is HNH (3 consonants, but the first one is usually silent).  “Answer” comes by adding the vowels top make the word ‘anah.  But the same consonant construction, ‘anah, also means “afflicted”.  Isn’t that interesting?  If you were reading Hebrew consonants only, and you came across this word, you would have to decide which word fit from the context but both would come to mind.  You would be reminded that “answer” and “affliction” are tied together.  Maybe it isn’t so accidental after all?

Do you ever think that God’s answer just might be affliction?  We like to think that divine answers are always the good things we want.  A better job.  A healed body.  A repaired relationship.  But what if God’s answer to our call is His affliction, His pruning and refining.  Isn’t that an answer too?

Change your perspective on answered prayer!  If God is truly sovereign and if He really cares for us and if He always answers, then we need to stand with Job and say, “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him” (Job 13:15).

In my affliction, God answers.  By faith, I accept His answer because I know that His will for me is better than my plans and desires.  He is shaping me for His purposes and His “answer/affliction” is the remodeling tool.

Faith is not getting the answer I want.  It is living with the answer I get.