Gerald N. Lund taught:
Another possible answer to the question of why God doesn’t seem to be answering our prayers stems from our unwillingness to accept what the Lord gives Us.
I had an experience as a bishop. A returned missionary in the ward had been home about a year. He came to me one day and said that he was struggling to know what to do with his life. He felt that he was going nowhere. He had a construction job and was making good money, but he felt that construction wasn’t what he wanted to do as a career. After a couple of counseling sessions, I said: “I feel to say to you that what the Lord wants you to do is to sell that new pick-up truck you bought, break off the relationship with the girl you are currently dating, and go to college,”
For a moment, he just looked at me, clearly shocked. Then he shook his head sadly.”I couldn’t do that, Bishop,” he said. “If I sell my truck, I’ll lose a lot of money on it. And I really love this girl. And besides, why should I go to college? I’ve got a good job. Isn’t there something else I can do?”
Some years ago Elder Boyd K. Packer gave a talk in general conference on the need to develop spiritual self-reliance. In that talk he made an observation that seems to apply here:
We seem to be developing an epidemic of “counselitis” which drains spiritual strength from the Church much like the common cold drains more strength our of humanity than any other disease. . . .
There are many chronic cases—individuals who endlessly seek counsel but do not follow the counsel given.
I have, on occasion, included in an interview the question: “You have come to me for advice, After we have carefully considered your problem, is it your intention to follow the counsel that I gave you?”
This comes as a considerable surprise to them. They never thought of that. (Boyd K. Packer “Solving Emotional Problems in the Lord’s own way,” 91-93.)
In the model on learning by faith and increasing our ability to receive revelation, we noted that one of the key steps was to do. Part of doing is responding appropriately to what the Lord counsels us to do. If we don’t the flow of inspiration and revelation will be significantly restricted. ~Gerald N. Lund, A Year of Powerful Prayer (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2013), p.267-68
