So you’re saved, love Jesus, and serve Him faithfully, yet those things you have been praying for still haven’t become a reality. You’ve attended everyone else’s wedding and baby shower, yet you still haven’t found a spouse, or maybe you and your spouse are still praying that God will bless you with a child. Perhaps you’re already married, but you realize your marriage is broken and needs help from the Lord. You’re having health issues, and you’re praying for God’s healing power for your life. You’re having financial problems; you just got a second job and still can’t escape debt.
Maybe you’ve been praying that God would deliver you from anxiety, worry, or loneliness, and yet it’s still a very real struggle in your life.
Well, my sisters in Christ, you are not alone.
In fact, several people in the Bible have struggled with what they may have thought to be unanswered prayers. But here, I will mention two individuals.
First, let’s look in the Bible at 1 Samuel chapter 1, where you will find a woman named Hannah. Now, Hannah was Elkanah’s first wife, and she was childless. Hannah longed to have children like Elkanah’s second wife, Peninnah, had. Peninnah would tease and taunt Hannah for many years because she could not have children. Hannah was greatly grieved and heartbroken not only because of this but also because she had to endure living in ancient Israel, where, at that time, the commonly held view of childlessness was that it was a curse from God. (paraphrased from (Evans, 2019). Can you imagine what that must have been like for Hannah?
One day, Hannah went to the Tabernacle to pray to God, where she poured out her heart and pleaded with God to give her a son. In time, God blessed her with a son and she named him Samuel. Hannah had to wait, but God did eventually answer her prayers. What’s also important to point out here is that in 1 Samuel 2:1-10 (I recommend reading it), Hannah remembers God’s goodness to her, and she prays a beautiful prayer of thanksgiving and praise to God for His goodness and faithfulness. Hannah’s prayer is an excellent example of how we should respond to God’s blessings in our own lives.
Now, let’s take a look at Job’s life. The Bible says in Job 1:1 NLT, “There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless—a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil.” Now, Job has forty-two chapters (I recommend reading them all). Still, for the sake of time, I’m going to summarize this book and say that God removed Job’s protection and permitted Satan to take Job’s wealth, his children, and his physical health, but God did not allow Satan to take Job’s life. At the end of this book, God graciously restores Job’s health, family, and wealth, and more than what he had initially.
The Bible says in Job 42:10 NLT, “When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before!”
However, after Job’s initial loss of his children, wealth, and the physical disease that was inflicted upon him, Job experienced great suffering and agony, as he expressed in Job 3:25-26 NLT, “What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come true. I have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest; only trouble comes.”
One of the key points from the Book of Job is that we must trust God even when we cannot understand Him and when what He is doing or allowing to happen doesn’t make sense to us. Here’s where we need to trust in His infinite wisdom, knowing that He knows what’s best for us and sees the more excellent picture of our present and future life.
4 Reasons Why You May Not Be Receiving The Answers That You Desire From God
- Prayers that you never prayed
- Sins that you have not confessed
- You have the wrong motives
- You have conflicts you have not resolved
(4 Points above paraphrased from D. Jeremiah, Sermon)
1. Now, let’s look at the prayers that you may have never prayed in the first place.
The Bible says in James 4:2 NLT, “… Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.” My dear sisters, perhaps you never took the time to pray specifically for your concern, and yet you expected God to answer whatever that concern was.
Matthew 7:7 ESV says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”
Prayer is one of the most powerful gifts (outside of salvation) that a Christian has, and it is a privilege to communicate directly with God, and yet in times of difficulty, we are guilty of making prayer our last resort, or we give up on it if the answer isn’t immediate or what we desire. In Matthew 7:7, Jesus reminds us to persevere in praying to God. The emphasis here is to keep asking, seeking, and knocking. To persevere means to continue firmly on a specific path despite the obstacles or difficulties. We are not to passively ask once and then sit back and wait for God’s intervention. The words seek and knock imply action and effort to discern God’s will and move in that direction. Discovering God’s will is the purpose of perseverance and not to try to get Him to change His mind and do things our way. Persevering in prayer builds our trust and teaches us to depend on God instead of rushing to get what we want. God promises that in time, we will be given an answer (God answers with a “yes,” “no,” or “wait”), find what we seek, and walk through the open door. At this time, we discover that God always gives us what is good, even if it does not look exactly the way we expect or fit our timing. We gain greater faith in Him through His answers to our prayers and insight into what He considers good. Then, we will know how to pray more wisely according to His will the next time we have a need. (paraphrased from Stanley, C Devotional)
2. Sins that you have not confessed: Psalm 66:18 KJV says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear me:” When you regard iniquity in your heart, you keep sin in your heart and are unwilling to part with it. In other words, you are aware of this sin, and yet you value it and make excuses for you to continue in it. This can be a hindrance or barrier to God answering your prayers with a “yes.”
3. You have the wrong motives: The Bible says in James 4:3 NLT, “And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.”
The Bible also says in 1 John 5:14-15 NLT, “And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for”.
The critical points here are that you have the right motives when you pray and ask according to God’s will for your life. You should ask yourself, “Am I requesting this so that God will be glorified in my life, or is this something for my selfish gain”? According to 1 John 5:14-15, you can be confident that your prayer requests will be heard by God when you ask for what pleases Him. And since He hears your prayer because it pleases Him, you can be confident your prayer will be granted.
4. You have conflicts you have not resolved: In Mark 11:25 NLT, Jesus said, “But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too. ” The conflicts you may have with others can hinder your prayer life. This is one reason why you need to reconcile with others. The Bible also says in Romans 12:18 NLT, “Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.”
So, in conclusion, please be encouraged to know that God does answer prayers according to His will and timing with a “yes,” “no,” or “wait.” We must ask God to help us remove the barriers hindering our prayers. Remember that God is loving and compassionate and with all wisdom. Sometimes, that wisdom may mean saying “no” to our prayers. A “no” is still an answer to our prayers, even if that isn’t our desired answer. There have been times when I prayed for something only to have God give me a “no” answer. Though initially disappointed, God, with His great loving compassion, showed me sometime later why the very thing I prayed for was not the best thing for my life, and then I was very grateful to God for withholding that prayer request.
When we fully trust God in His infinite wisdom, then we can rest in the fact that He truly knows what is best for us.
Keep on praying, and remember to Seek Jesus 4 Life!!!
Evans, Tony. (2019) The Tony Evans Bible Commentary
Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers
Jeremiah, David. Sermon: Why Don’t My Prayers Get Answered?
Stanley, Charles. In Touch Devotional
