Unanswered Prayers
"We may not understand why some of our prayers seem to go unanswered, but God wants us to trust Him anyway because He loves us and wants what is best for us. God’s timing can be trusted."
- Pastor Eddy Brewer
There may be times in our lives when God seems to be silent and we wonder if He even hears our prayers or cares.
A few reasons God may not be answering our prayers: a wrong request, the timing may not be right, or our relationship with God is strained due to sin in our lives.
Ultimately there is no magic formula to having your prayers answered. There are some things we won’t have an answer for and we may not know “why” until we get to heaven.
If you have experienced God’s “no” or “not yet,” don’t allow yourself to get bitter or cynical. God knows what is best and can be trusted.
The sense that God is not answering our prayers might be due to the following:
A Wrong Request
- Asking with wrong motives (selfish, materialistic, destructive)
- Small thinking (God may want to do something beyond your imagination)
The Wrong Timing
- Delays are a tool God uses to build our character.
- God’s delays are not denials. He might be saying, “I will do this, but not yet.”
Some Wrong Living
- Mistreatment of others
- Thinking we know better than God (pride)
- Living outside of God’s laws
Words to Live By:
“If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”
Psalm 66:18 (NLT)
“In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered” 1 Peter 3:7 (NLT).
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV).
Recommended Resources:
Prayer: Does it Make Any Difference? -Philip Yancey
God on Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer -Pete Greif
Before Amen -Max Lucado
Grace Notes by Philip Yancey
“As with physical exercise, much of the benefit of prayer comes as a result of consistency, the simple act of showing up” (39).
