Unanswered Prayers?
In the event you’ve been round lengthy sufficient, you in all probability keep in mind the favored Garth Brooks tune, “Unanswered Prayers.” It’s a catchy tune, and one we’re tempted to cling to once we expertise the other of what we pray for. Brooks runs by means of the issues he thought he wished in his youth that didn’t prove, leaving him to marvel if his prayers had gone unanswered. As he seems again on his life and the place he’s at present, he concludes that God truly offers good items in these unanswered prayers. What we pray for in our youth won’t be the factor we would like in maturity and outdated age.
However is it true that God leaves prayers unanswered? Within the Outdated Testomony, God’s refusal to take heed to the prayers of his individuals was an indication of judgment. However within the New Testomony, we see a relentless chorus of God delighting within the prayers of his individuals—and delighting in answering them. In Matthew 6:10, we’re given readability on our prayers and the way God solutions. He won’t reply the way in which we would like him to, however he all the time offers us his greatest. And he all the time solutions, it simply is probably not the one we requested for.
This quantity of TGC’s Disciplines of Devotion sequence invitations girls to stir their affections for God by cultivating the biblical follow of prayer.
Whereas Brooks is not any theologian, Charles Spurgeon is. In his devotional, Morning and Night, he writes this about “unanswered prayers”:
Unanswered petitions will not be unheard. God retains a file for our prayers–they aren’t blown away by the wind, they’re treasured within the King’s archives. This can be a registry within the court docket of heaven whereby each prayer is recorded. Examined believer, your Lord has a tear bottle wherein the pricey drops of sacred grief are put away, and a ebook wherein your holy groanings are numbered. Earlier than lengthy, your go well with shall prevail. Cannot you be content material to attend a short time? Will not your Lord’s time be higher than yours? Earlier than lengthy He’ll comfortably seem, to your soul’s pleasure, and make you set away the sackcloth and ashes of prolonged ready, and placed on the scarlet and wonderful linen of full fruition.
Spurgeon is unpacking a fact typically repeated in Scripture. God doesn’t preserve time like we preserve time. His methods will not be our methods (Isa. 55:8). What’s unanswered to us is solely shifting proper on his timetable for him. There’s not an unanswered prayer, however there are occasions, as Dale Ralph Davis says, “God has the slows.” So we’re in a posture of ready far longer than we’d need or really feel comfy with.
What can we do whereas we wait? If we imagine Garth Brooks was flawed, how can we reconcile the hole between our prayers and God’s deliverance?
The Psalms are the prayer ebook of ready Christians. In some ways, if you happen to’re ready, you could possibly open to a psalm and discover a balm in your ready coronary heart. However let’s have a look at one to information us as we look forward to prayers to be answered.
Pray With out Ceasing
This can be a biblical idea, but when we’re sincere, it’s arduous to follow (1 Thess. 5:17). We now have jobs. We now have lives. Continuous praying is inefficient and impractical. However I believe the Bible offers examples how one can make prayer a relentless in our life.
Have a look at the phrases of Psalm 5:3:
Within the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;
within the morning I plead my case to you and watch expectantly.
The implication right here is that upon waking he cries out to the Lord. My default once I’m ready on God to behave is to behave myself. After I really feel uncontrolled, I begin to grasp for extra management. However what would occur to my coronary heart in ready if earlier than my ft hit the ground—or my fingers grabbed the cellphone—I prayed? The promise in verse 3 is that once we pray, God hears. The psalmist repeats his motion twice. He is aware of God hears his voice, and he pleads with hope. He is aware of God will act, so he prays. And since he prays, he can watch, realizing God will transfer.
We All Want Reminders!
Within the busyness of life it’s all too straightforward to overlook who God is, what he has finished for us, and who we’re due to him. Crossway desires to assist! Enroll at present to obtain concise Scripture-filled, gospel-saturated reminders that may encourage you and strengthen your stroll with Jesus.
Keep Close to Group
When a girl is ready on her child to be born, day by day seems like an eternity. When she is on the grocery retailer, individuals ask when she’s due. When she’s at church, individuals ask her, “How lengthy?” However together with that, girls share their tales of ready along with her. Whether or not it’s a horror story of carrying long gone your due date or the commiserating of the discomfort of ready, the group of fellow moms helps a ready mother get by on these remaining days that really feel like years. The identical is true for us in our ready on God to reply. The psalmist doesn’t wait alone. Have a look at verse 7:
However I enter your own home
by the abundance of your devoted love. —Ps. 5:7
Within the Outdated Testomony, “your own home” is universally understood because the Temple, the place the place God dwelt and his individuals heard from him. Of their ready, they prayed earlier than they acted, however in addition they gathered with God’s individuals.
There’s consolation in a shared sorrow. We weren’t meant to attend alone. There are others who can bear with or empathize with the sorrow and ready we endure.
What would occur to my coronary heart in ready if earlier than my ft hit the ground—or my fingers grabbed the cellphone—I prayed?
Take Refuge in God Whereas You Wait
The psalmist typically goes by means of his prayers and complaints earlier than he involves a spot of decision. He’s sincere about his struggles, however then he should come to phrases with it and relaxation. The identical is true on this psalm. Have a look at verse 11:
However let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
allow them to shout for pleasure eternally. —Ps. 5:11
Just like the temptation to behave earlier than we pray, there’s a temptation to seek out our refuge in issues or individuals we will see. Ready is tough, and in contrast to Garth Brooks, once we’re ready we don’t have the attitude of hindsight. We don’t know when it can finish. However there may be an anxiousness that builds once we discover refuge in something however the Lord. Every little thing else will fail us, however he might be a relentless protecting power as we wait on him to maneuver in our requests.
Such as you, I’m residing with the ache of unanswered prayers. Perhaps like me you end up eager to accept the fast repair or phantasm of management, and you end up developing empty. Let the psalms be your information and the Lord be your refuge as you reside with prayers that haven’t been answered but. There is no such thing as a prayer he doesn’t hear or transfer compassion with to reply.
Courtney Reissig is the creator of Prayer.
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