Unanswered Prayer

Do you ever believe that God is not answering prayers? Many take this verse and understand it to mean what it says:

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8 KJV)

If I need to be healthy, simply ask God for good health and He will heal whatever is wrong with me. Therefore, His children should have no need of physicians. A very literal interpretation of a very simple verse, that has held no validity, so many people have walked away from God and the rest of His promises. I read this summer of a ten-year-old girl whose mother was not healed in response to her prayers who is now an atheist activist. She filed suit to remove another student’s letter as it contained a prayer of thankfulness. She asked for her mother’s health, it was not given.

She could not grasp the connection to the next few verses:

Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? (Matthew 7:9-11 KJV)

The Bible tells us that all men die (Hebrews 9:27), but it never tells us that all men, some men or any men are due the best in life on this earth. We’ve ‘earned’ nothing in this life that would be due us from God. Even His love comes before ours.

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 KJV)

We love him, because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19 KJV)

With that in mind, consider what we are asking of Him? Just what is that unanswered prayer?  Might it contain a stone instead of bread, a serpent instead of fish? Are we asking for something that would be of greater harm in the future than what we are facing now?

Another verse that is often grabbed as a promise is:

Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. (Psalms 37:4-5 KJV)

After reading this, some will make a ‘Desires’ list as long as a child’s Christmas wish list. A bucket list of people to meet, places to go, things to see?

I think all that changes when we really “delight thyself also in the Lord.”  Our desires change when we see what He laid out for mankind. It takes some study, some reading, some prayer, some paying attention to details – and trust. Trust in the Lord, and in His ability to bring it to pass – His perfect gift in His perfect time.