The Unanswered Prayer by Lisa Burkhardt Worley
Most of us have a longstanding prayer that we might think is being ignored by God. I have one prayer that I have lifted up almost every day, but have seen little movement in almost twenty years. We may wonder: Why does God answer some prayers and not others? We can go through a series of emotions when our prayers seem to fall upon deaf ears. Don’t you hear me God? Did I not pray the right way? Do you love me?
What I have determined is that we have to trust. We have to first trust that God does hear our prayers. Isaiah 65:24 says, “Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear” (ESV). We have to trust that when we pray our broken prayers, the Holy Spirit can turn them into a pleasing aroma before the Lord. “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Romans 8:26, NIV). We also have to trust that when a prayer remains unanswered, it does not mean God has stopped loving us. Psalm 36:7 speaks of God’s never-ending love: “How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.”
So what should we do when we do not see an answer to prayer? We should keep praying. The answer does not always come in our own timing. Instead of focusing on the unanswered prayers, let’s thank God for His future response and concentrate on the prayers that were answered. Generally the yeses are far greater than the nos. When it is the right timing, God will address the unanswered prayer, and we will understand why he tarried with the answer.
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Holy Land with Pearls of Promise Ministries