Unanswered Prayer

“My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

- Jesus, Matthew 26:39

“Frustration is the soil out of which most prayer grows.”

- St. Theresa of Avila

If you were to ask me, “Harry, what’s the single greatest motivator for you to pray?” I would tell you in two words… ”Answered prayer!” When I pray, God answers. When I have a need, and I set that need before God, God answers. Not long ago, I was very anxious about a situation, so I set it before God in prayer… and for no earthly reason, I experienced this sense of peace from God. The circumstances didn’t change, but something in me changed. Answered prayer is the biggest motivator for me to pray!

But if you were to ask me, “Harry, what’s the biggest de-motivator for you to pray?” I would tell you in two words… ”Unanswered prayer!” You would love to be married, and you prayed for years that God would send the right person into your life… but He hasn’t. Maybe you have wrestled with the anguish of depression, and time and time again you have asked God to lift it and take it away… but He didn’t. Or maybe you were seriously cheated at work or bullied at school, and you pleaded with God for justice to prevail… but it hasn’t happened.

Everyone reading this devotional today has had that experience. You have had some deep prayers go unanswered.

In fact, the Bible may have as many stories of unanswered prayer as it does answered prayer. Remember…

In Mark 9:5-6, on the Mount of Transfiguration Peter wanted to stay there with Jesus forever… Jesus said, “No!”

In Matthew 20:20-21, the mother of James and John asked Jesus to seat her sons next to Him in heaven to rule over God’s Kingdom… Jesus said, “No!”

In Luke 9:54, the disciples wanted Jesus to call down fire from heaven on the Samaritans... Jesus said, ”No!”

On four different occasions, Moses, Jeremiah, Elijah, and Jonah all asked God to take their life… and in each case God said, “No!”

Thank God, God sometimes says, ”No!”

Garth Brooks wrote a song called “Unanswered Prayer” that was based on a true story. When he was in high school, he prayed that God would let him marry his dream girl… God said, “No!” Years later, he saw her and wondered, “What was I thinking?” (Chances are, we are all somebody’s unanswered prayer… ha!) And under his breath he whispered, ”Thank God for unanswered prayer!” Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.

Think about it… in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asked not to be crucified.

“Father, if it be possible may this cup of suffering be taken away from me...” This is the most desperate prayer ever prayed from the best heart, the best mind, the best soul of the best person who ever lived… for deliverance from the most unjust suffering ever known… and Heaven was silent. God did not answer… the cup was not taken away… the request was denied. But from that unwanted and undeserved suffering came the Hope of the world, who rescued you and rescued me, and rescued the entire human race! God’s “No” to His Son became God’s “Yes!” to you and me!

Listen… if you’ve been praying to God for something, and Heaven has not returned your call, think about this… Sometimes…

...if the request is wrong, God will say, “No!”

...if the timing is wrong, God will say, “Slow!” ...not “No,” just “Not yet!”

...if You are wrong, God will say, “Grow!”

But if the prayer is in line with God’s best for your life, God will say, “GO!”

If you’re wrestling with the agony of unanswered prayer, believe that God loves you… God hears you… and He will always answer your prayer with what’s best for you. So pray, pray, pray with confidence, my friend!

Pastor Harry

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