What if God Does not Answer My Prayer?

By Joyce Webb 2018

 

What am I to think when God does not answer my prayer?

This is a difficult thing to understand. I may not be the best person to answer it. I will give what I understand about it, but there are other people who may explain it differently.

Many of our prayers can be for and about our self. Many of these prayers are rather selfish. Not all of these prayers are for are good from the way God sees things. God’s values of what is best for us is probably different than the way we think.

God wants us to grow spiritually. He wants us to learn to trust and have faith. He wants us to be strong in faith and trust.

God wants us to learn to walk step by step trusting Him. God does not shows us our pathway many steps ahead. Faith requires us to walk step by step following His leading.

God would like to see us “happy”, but that is not God’s first goal for us. God wants us to walk in obedience and faith.

Joy is a deeper feeling than “happy”. Happy depends on all the things around us being the way we like them.

We can have “joy” even when things around us in our lives are not what we want.

Joy is a deeper contentment and peace that comes from God because we know our heart and spirit is “clear” and “whole” with God. There is nothing blocking our relationship with him

There is no unforgiven sin blocking us from God. There are no bitter feelings toward others, or toward God.

There is nothing that has been left undone in the way of following what He has asked us to do.

We have a clear conscience toward God.

These are the things that come first with God.

Any prayers God answers will take these things into thought first.

In some of our prayers, if God answered them for us would make someone else’s prayers not to be answered.

Let us say that two ball teams pray for God to help them win the game. If God answers Team One’s prayer to win, then how can he answer Team Two’s prayer to win?

The prayer that God can answer is to help each player who trusts in Him to play their best. Then the best players win.

Some one may pray that God would help them past a test in school or college, but they have not studied very much. God may help them remember what they studied, but if they did not study much God is not going to tell them the answers.

Some of our prayers in order to be answered depend on other people’s will and decision.

We may pray for a person to believe in Jesus to be their savior. God can not force that person to change their mind.

God can put things in that person’s way to make them think about God and their soul.

God can send people to speak to them. God can get their attention by books, TV, and other things to get them to think about what happens when they die.

God can let things happen to them that may put them close to death to get them to think about death and what happens if they die.

But God will not force their will. They have to choose.

Changing a person mind about things takes time. Your prayers for this person may go on for a long time before that person changes their mind.

Just because it takes a long time, does not mean that God has not heard your prayer, or that God is not working on it.

Some missionaries have prayed that God would open a way for them to minister to a group of people, but the government will not let them. The missionaries pray that God will open a way.

The government people have to change their minds. This may take time. God does not just force them, but he can send things into their way to get them to think differently.

Some of our prayers if God gave us what we asked for would not be good for us.

We might think it would make us “happy”, but it might not be as satisfying as we thought.

Have you ever wanted to go see something but when you got there it was not as nice as you thought it would be?

Have you ever wanted to have something but when you got it, it did not bring the pleasure you thought it would?

People have married a person —-before they married them they just knew that had to have this person for their husband or wife. They were determined to marry this person.

But after they married them they learned that the person was not as wonderful and they thought. They learned that there were things about this person that made them very hard to live with.

There is a Bible verse that says: “He gave them their request but sent leanness into their soul.” Psalms 106:15

If God answered some of our prayers we would not be happy with what we got.

If God answered some of our prayers, we would lose some of our spiritual closeness to God. Our souls would become “lean” “thin”, not as full and healthy spiritually.

God is a Father. A good father. He wants what is best for us.

First, what is best for us spiritually, Then what is best for us physically, and emotionally.

He knows us better than we know ourselves.

Children often ask their parents for things, but the parent knows it would not be good for them. The parents knows it would be dangerous, or the parents knows the child’s personality and knows they would not be happy with what they ask for.

I wrote about this example in another article. When I was teaching in school, I was having a problem with my knees and walking. Before the new year started, I had prayed that the Lord would give me a certain room to teach in. Each year teachers were assigned certain rooms.

I thought if I could be in this one room it would make me close to the gym, restrooms, music room , lunch room so that I would not have as far to walk.

I thought surely the Lord would answer my prayer. I did not see any reason for me not to have that room.

When fall came, and I received my room assignment, I did not get the room I wanted. I was disappointed. I did not understand why the Lord did not answer such a simple prayer.

As the year went on, the teacher who got that room began having very serious problems with her throat. She almost lost her voice, which would have ended her teaching. She did go to the doctor and was helped, but struggled all year with the throat problem.

I learned that a teacher before her had been in that room for years and she developed cancer. She was treated and was then okay.

The next year, another teacher was in that room. She became very ill and finally was in the hospital for some time. The woman began to wonder if there was something in that room that was making the teachers sick.

Her husband was on the school board and he pressed the school board to have the room’s ceiling and what was above it —-the pipes, insulation, etc. checked.

They found that the insulation was causing the teachers to get sick.

If the Lord had answered my prayer and put me in that room, I could have become sick.

I could have been upset that God did not answer my prayer. But there were things about that room that I did not know. Things that no one found out for years. After two more people got sick.

There may be reasons that God does not answer a prayer.

God is a parent who knows us completely. He wants us to be complete and full in every way.

Sometimes our choices block God from doing for us what He would have liked to do.

Sometimes our fears, our refusing to follow God’s leading about something—–makes us miss out on God being able to give us what He would have liked to do.

Our choices of our own making may make us miss out on a job, a marriage, an opportunity of ministry, a friendship, etc.

God does not force us to follow his leading. God does not force us make one decision or another.

God sometimes puts “road blocks” in our way to make us think about our decision and hope we will choose a different way, but in the end it is our choice.

God put a “road block” in the way for Jonah when he sent the storm and he got swallowed by a big fish. Still, Jonah had to decide if he would obey or not. He could have stayed stubborn and refused.

If we could walk in perfect faith, in perfect obedience, and be in perfect “tune” with God’s spirit in his leading——we could walk like Jesus did when he was on earth.

Our human nature makes us struggle to be perfect spiritually.

Yielding to God, listening with our spirit to God, takes practice for us. Too often, we go with our human nature and do not listen with our spirit.

The more we learn to listen with our spirit to God, the more perfect our way will be and the more our prayers will be in accord with God’s will for us.

Being able to have faith is an important part of our prayers being answered, also.

Some people have faith so that miracles happen, people are healed. We wish we could have that kind of faith.

Even for these people, not all their prayers get answered as they want. I know a preacher who prays for healing for people and they healed of all kinds of things, and yet this preacher’s son is a paralyzed in bed from a motorcycle accident. God has not healed his son.

Paul, in the Bible, who was a missionary to the Gentiles and wrote many of the books of the New Testament prayed for many people who were sick and they were healed. He prayed for a young man who died, and he came back to life.

And yet, Paul had a problem with his eyes—-and God did not heal it. We know from the letters he wrote, that someone else wrote the words as Paul said them, and at the end he would write a few words in his own hand, but they were very large so he could see them.

In one letter, Paul tells that he prayed 3 times for God to answer a prayer about something that was bothering him, but the Lord did not take it away.

II Corinthians 12:7, 8 ,9 “….there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, …..

For this thing I asked the Lord 3 times, that it might depart from me, and he said unto me, ‘My grace is sufficient (enough) for you.”

People who have had great faith, have not had all their prayers answered as they would have like them.

Bad things happen to good people and we did not know why.

I know a missionary. He and his wife had several children, I forget the number now, but 4 or 5. They were traveling in the country where they were missionaries, doing the Lord’s work. The car or truch they were using were too small to carry all of the family in one car/truck . So the children rode in one car/truck and the parents in another.

The car/truck the children were riding in was in front of them on the road. As they were going along, a truck came out of a side road and hit the vehicle the children were in. It killed all of the children.

Why would the Lord let such a terrible thing happen to people who had given their lives to do God’s work? No doubt, they prayed the Lord would keep them safe.

We do not have an answer. Some things we will not know why until we get to heaven.

 

What should we do?

Pray, ask, believe for anything, everything.

If God does not answer your prayer or he does not answer right away, or in the way you hope—–trust Him anyway.

Trust his Father’s heart that he knows what is best for you and others.

Do not let anger and bitterness because of an unanswered prayer put a block between you and God.

God will always answer your prayer for forgiveness of sin and salvation.

Jesus was talking about people believing in him; he said: “…him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:37

He will not turn away those who come to him for forgiveness and salvation.

That is the most important prayer you need answered.

Any other prayer is extra for your blessing.

Do not get angry and bitter towards God when he has not answered a prayer that you wanted so much.

If you break your relationship and fellowship with God because he did not give you what you wanted——–how are you going to get into heaven? Is what you wanted more important than getting into heaven?

Getting into heaven for all eternity is your main goal.

Nothing not even an unanswered prayer should keep you from heaven.

Keeping a open heart toward God is the most important thing.

What is most important to you? Is it God answering your prayers the way you want, or getting into heaven?

Some day in heaven, we will understand why certain prayers were not answered as we wanted.

Until then, trust that God knows best.