I was praying for a situation for someone I love, a situation for which I have been given very specific promises, yet still I was praying from a poor-pitiful-me place, a why-God-? place. God told me to get up and go for a walk—right in the middle of my prayer, and I was glad I obeyed, because I hadn’t gone past two houses when He reminded me that He is good and wise, and He loves. He told me His plan is perfect. I don’t have to understand. I don’t have to like it. I just have to trust. That resulted in a wonderful time of praise, and even the praise built my faith in the God who promised.

Why does God answer our prayers like He does? Because His plan is perfect. We need no other reason. We are out-smarted, out-planned, out-imagined, out-thought, and out-powered. We may have vivid imaginations, but they aren’t as vivid as God’s, so our most imaginative prayers don’t come close to all He has already planned. Anything we can think up to bring our prodigals back to God is miniscule at best compared to all God has in store for them!

Satan is also out-smarted, out-planned, out-imagined, out-thought, and out-powered by God. There is truly no comparison. He is miniscule compared to our God, who is Most High God; Almighty, All-Sufficient God; and all-powerful, all-wise, all-knowing God.

In 2 Chronicles 32, the account is given of Assyria’s King Sennacherib entering Judah with his multitude of an army with the intent of defeating the fortified cities and making them his own, but Judah’s King Hezekiah had been bringing the people back to God and preparing them spiritually. So, when he heard Assyria was in Judah, he made physical preparations and gathered the people together, reminding them: “‘Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him; for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.’ And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah” (vv. 7-8 NKJV). Hezekiah compared King Sennacherib’s multitude of an army to the Lord, and the army fell way short. The Lord is simply more. There isn’t enough “flesh” to overcome the Lord and those He fights alongside and for.

When I read these verses, I saw that the enemy of God’s people was not enough to defeat them, because God Himself fought for them. I also remembered my conversation with God, when He reminded me that He is also more than me—more than us—but that also works in our favor!

We can’t pray big enough prayers that will cover God’s plan. Our imagination and thoughts aren’t that big or thorough. Only God can know all the details and make them happen, and we can have peace knowing God is not limited by humanly limited prayers. We don’t have to figure out the plan of God first and then pray it through thoroughly. We don’t have to tell God how to save them, how to make it happen. We invite Him into their lives, targeting situations and things in prayer using the Word of God, stand on His promises to us, and watch Him do “exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20).

I can pray some mighty big prayers. You can, too. I ask God for things that seem impossible. You do, too. But even those prayers are not more than God can do, because we aren’t capable of imagining or thinking of anything to ask Him that is too much for Him. He is consummately good, His wisdom and knowledge are all-encompassing, and His love is everlasting. Praise His holy name! His plan is perfect. Satan can’t outsmart Him, nor stop His plan, and neither can we. And that is good news for all involved … except for Satan, of course!