Unanswered Prayers
Matthew 7: 7 – 11 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
I’ve come to not really like verses like this. It’s hard not to take it personally when it seems that God is busy answering the prayers of others and forgetting to answer mine. At times, the disappointment of unanswered prayer weighs heavy on my soul. It crushes and overwhelms. Doubts whisper, “Does He hear me or have compassion for me? Does He care?”
Disappointment can lead to lost hope. My asking gradually becomes less fervent, sprinkled with confusion and lowered expectations. I’ve learned that faith can be worn down in the struggles of waiting for God to answer. But I’ve also learned that in the waiting, faith can be energized as it is called into action.
We must grip tightly to hope and trust that God will give us good things; that He is gracious and will provide all that we need. He is faithful to His promises (Psalm 71: 22). We don’t understand all that God does, or doesn’t do, but I believe that one day we will. Perhaps we will see many of our unanswered prayers as unseen blessings. We will realize that He never stopped being faithful and good.
One day our hope will be fully restored and we will no longer faithlessly fumble through His promise to work all things for good, but we will proudly proclaim it with great rejoicing! God will work all things–including our unanswered prayers–for good (Romans 8:28). Someday, we will understand that our prayers were answered, only better than we could have ever imagined (Ephesians 3: 20).
