Unanswered prayer is draining. It saps my energy. It confuses me. Especially when I’m praying for things that appear to be in God’s will…for a marriage not to end in divorce, for a hard heart to repent, for an unjust decision to be reversed. Sometimes I feel like my requests end up being the victim of some celestial delete button. I wrestle over my ledger of defeat, and like the psalmist I cry out, “How long, Lord?”
That’s when I have to stop and remember there’s another side to the ledger. A whole stockpile of answered prayers exists to counter the ones I deem “unanswered.” This side of the ledger reminds me I always have something to be thankful for. The power of gratitude leads me back to the truth. When I can’t see what God is doing, I can still count on who he is.
For the psalmist, one simple statement canceled out his litany of despair. He voided his ledger of unanswered prayers as he recalled the character of God: “But I trust in your unfailing love.” He didn’t experience a revelation as to why there was no answer. Nothing indicated how much longer he would have to wait or whether he would even receive an answer at all. He simply remembered God’s unfailing love could be trusted. And that was enough.
Knowing why some prayers are answered and some are not will most likely remain a mystery while we live on the earth. It’s how we deal with the mystery that affects us so deeply. When we feel forsaken, but still choose to pray, to trust, to obey, we grow into the sort of man or woman God purposes us to be.
So the next time you’re relegating all your prayers to the “unanswered” column, pull out your ledger and start making a new list on the other side.
Lord, thank you for all the prayers you answer in my life. Please help me grow in trusting you when my prayers aren’t answered in the way I want.
Throughout the Day: Make an actual list of all the prayers God has answered for you in the last 24 hours.
Photo Credit: Nathan Timblin