Why are there Unanswered Prayers
I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy.
Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.
Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.
Psalm 116:1-2
It can feel at times like God is distant and or absent. This feeling becomes worse when it feels like God is not listening to us. Being ignored or not being listened to makes us feel hurt, lost, abandoned, and alone. But as the authors of Psalms will give witness to, our God is always listening and always responsive. The reason that many of us doubt this is because we take God’s answer of “no” as an unanswered prayer. The scriptures show us clearly that God is listening to us. It even goes as far to tell us that God inclines his ear to hear us. In fact the word in Hebrew that is often translated lovingkindness or unfailing love is derived from the word to bend over or to come close. God’s witness to us through God’s love is that God always comes close to hear our prayer.
The news that we have a God who is responsive is good news. On the surface it is hard to understand why a God who loves us and is always listening would not give us whatever we want. But when we think about being parents or what we have learned from our parents, we can reflect on what it would mean to have everything just given to us. The things in our lives that mean the most were gained through struggle, loss, and grief. And our God who loves us so much wants us to have gained something in this life. Even more, God is there in the midst of that pain walking us through whatever we go through. God could give us whatever we want, but instead God endures the pain with us so that God can give us what we need.
