A READER wonders why we pray when it seems that many prayers are unanswered. “I ask for certain things to happen,” the reader says, “but God does not make them happen. Any thoughts?”
The experience of “unanswered” prayer is a problem for all thoughtful Christians at some time or another. It is often said, but I repeat it seriously and not as some-thing trite, that God always answers—he sometimes says “Yes,” sometimes “No,” and sometimes “Later.”
It is important to remember that God never promised to give us everything we ask for, or to do all that we request. God does promise to respond as we ask according to his own larger purpose and will. As we grow in attuning our hearts to his heart, to sharing his vision, to caring for the things that he cares for, we will also see more and more of our prayers “answered” in the way we wish.
When my children were very small, they often made requests of me which I denied—not because I lacked love for them or the ability to do as they asked, but simply because as their father I knew better than they what their real needs were, what was better for them. Yet they should not for that reason have stopped asking me.
My children’s asking was part of their being my children. And, as they grew older and learned to think more as responsible adults, their requests tended to coincide more and more with my own best judgment regarding their welfare.
God’s faithfulness is constant. Our comprehension of his purposes and our self-alignment with those eternal principles is always incomplete, although we hope it is always increasing with Christian maturity and experience.
If you are God’s child through faith in Jesus Christ, keep praying! Your Father wants to hear from you.