Unanswered Prayers

Unanswered prayers. A phrase that Garth Brooks made famous by a song by the same name. I bet some of you are even singing the lyrics to that song now as you continue reading. What are we to do as Christians when we feel that God is not answering our prayers?  Maybe we feel that our prayers are just hitting the ceiling and not making their way up to the throne of God. Rest assured that God hears your prayers.

I have always heard that there are three answers that God gives to all prayer requests: yes, no and not yet. There are prayers that we pray that are completely in tune with the will of God and the timing is right and because so, He says “yes” to our prayer request. Then there are prayers that we pray that God directly tells us “no” because they are either outside the will of God or we are asking for the wrong reasons. The final answer that God gives to our prayers is “not yet”. There may be prayers that we pray that are in the will of God but are not in the timing of God or right for us at that particular point in time. So He asks us to wait. These seem to be the prayers that we feel are “unanswered”.

There are so many examples in the Bible of God saying “yes” almost immediately to prayer requests. I can think of Paul being told “no” when he asked for his thorn in the side to be removed. But what about the “not yet” answer of God to prayer requests, are there any biblical examples of that answer?  I think there is.

In the story of Hannah in 1 Samuel chapter 1, she was barren and prayed desperately to have a son, even promising to give him back to the Lord if He answered her prayer.  It had seemed to her that the Lord’s answer was “no” but she kept at her request. When the priest Eli saw her praying, he thought that she was drunk because her mouth was moving but no words were being spoken. Once he found out that she was just pleading with God that He would answer her request, Eli told her to return home, her request would be granted. Not long after, Hannah conceived and brought forth the prophet Samuel. It was never a “no” from God, just a “not yet”. It was in God’s will for Samuel to be born but the timing had to be right.

Maybe there is something in your life that God just doesn’t seem to be answering and you feel like giving up, don’t do it if you haven’t received a definite “no” from God. You may just be going through the “not yet” stage. Keep asking and keep praying. “And I tell you, 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 to the one who knocks it will be opened.” - Luke 11:9-10.

Have a great day and God bless.