Maybe I should have called this one, Why Doesn’t God Answer My Prayers My Way? Or perhaps, Why Isn’t God Paying Attention to Me?
Have you been there? I know I have. I asked for something in prayer. A LOT. And then it didn’t happen. In fact, the exact opposite happened. At that point you just want to ask the question: Why Did God Ignore My Prayer?
Can I be completely honest? I used to want what I wanted when I wanted it. Oh, wait, really completely honest? Yeah, most of the time I still want what I want when I want it. Seriously. I’m a nice guy. I love my amazing wife. I love my kids and grandkids. I even write blog posts and such to help other people grow closer to Jesus. Shouldn’t that give me some special treatment to get God’s blessings just the way I see fit?
Enter Paul…
Apparently this whole, “God doesn’t always give me what I want” issue has been going on for a while. In 2 Corinthians 12:7-8 Paul tells us, “A thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.” So, what does Paul do? He does what you probably would have done. He prayed for it to go away. The text actually says, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.” He didn’t just pray, he pleaded. And he didn’t just plead once, he pleaded repeatedly! Well then, three-time pleading. That should work. Do you know what God did?
God said no
Well, God didn’t exactly say no. He said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” What exactly does that mean? Well, it clearly does mean no. No Paul, God isn’t taking away this “messenger of Satan”. Wait, a “messenger of Satan”?? How crazy is that? Why won’t God deal with that?
Have you ever felt that way? For real, you’re in a horrible situation, that maybe you had nothing to do with creating, and God isn’t making it go away. So, you have to just deal with it. Ok. You’re on your own here.
What He really meant
Let’s take another look at God’s response. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Grace can be described as God giving you don’t deserve. But grace isn’t referring to the horrible situation. It’s referring to something else. The second part of God’s statement is about power. “for My power is made perfect in weakness.”
We don’t get all that God has for us when we’re strong. God’s best for us doesn’t come because we are highly capable. In fact, when we try to get out of the mess ourselves, when we work to do what only God can do, it just gets worse. You’ve seen that in people’s lives. The addict who works and works, and yet falls back into addiction. The marriage that is in trouble, so the couple vows to be nicer to each other, and yet the divorce happens. Trying to make it make it better in our own power removes God from the solution. Here’s the first lesson.
It’s only when we operate in His strength that we receive everything God has for us.
You might want to read that again.
But what about my prayer?
How does God saying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness,” match up with your unanswered prayer? To answer that question, we need to ask a different question.
What do you really want?
Wait, I know, you want God to answer your prayer the way you want it answered. You want God to respond, right now, with the right answer (YOUR right answer). Listen, don’t be denying it. I have often felt the same way. I know how this should play out, so if God would just take care of it my way that would be best for everyone involved.
Enter Jesus…
Read the following passage:
“While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God. Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.”
Those are verses 7 and 8 from Hebrews 5 (NLT). Jesus prayed to God. Jesus offered up “a loud cry and tears.” To whom did He literally cry out to? “To the one who could rescue Him from death.” But did the One rescue Jesus from death? Of course not! And aren’t you glad that prayer went unanswered? Because God did NOT rescue Jesus from death, you don’t have to fear going to Hell.
Be thankful for unanswered prayers, the consequences of the answer may be far worse.
Now, if God’s Son had a prayer that God ignored, should we be surprised when God doesn’t always answer our prayers the way we ask? Here is the second lesson.
Unanswered prayers are sometimes the only way to God’s best for us.
Now, back to the real question.
What do you really want?
Here is the gist. What do you really want? What do I really want? Do you remember the tagline here at EverNearer.com? “Growing passionate Jesus followers.” Do you know what passionate Jesus followers do? They follow Jesus, with passion. I’m not mocking your intelligence here. What do you really want? The answer is found in why you’re even on this website. You’re here, you’re reading these words, because you want to be a more passionate Jesus follower. Here’s the third lesson.
Passionate Jesus followers want God’s will more than anything else.
If I’m all about being a Jesus follower, then I can’t be all about following my own desires, even if on the surface they seem to be good things. Would I rather a precious loved one had lived longer? Of course. Would I rather you had not suffered that great pain? Absolutely. But if it happened it was either the will of God or the consequences of something God did not desire but did allow. I may not understand why. You may not understand why. But our mission isn’t to understand why. It’s to do what Jesus has been telling His disciples from the beginning of His ministry on earth. What he told them over and over.
Follow me.
Isn’t that what you really want? You want to follow Him. You want to learn from Him. You want to draw ever nearer to Him. You want to become more like Him, every single day.
Why does God ignore your prayers? Beloved Jesus follower, remember this: God never ignores your prayers. No, He hears each one, and He responds in the way that He knows is best for you and for everyone who will be affected.
So, here’s a different question. Do you need to ask God for forgiveness for believing He was ignoring you? Do you need to thank Him for answering in His wisdom, even though it may not make sense to you? He is here, ready to listen, ready to comfort, ready to love.
Action steps:
1) Go ahead and reach out to me using our contact form and tell me how this post impacted you. How did God speak to you through it?
2) You can also use the contact form send in a question you’d like answered, either directly to you, or perhaps as a blog post or video in the future!
Take time today to become an even more passionate Jesus follower by continuing to draw ever nearer to Him.