Pondering life, what about unanswered prayer?
How does this fit in to the plan of following God and allowing Him to work in our lives? One more famous American "pat" answer is "God always answers prayer!" Does He? I have heard people say that He always answers, either with a yes or a no. I do not know about that. Is it His obligation to keep us happy by giving us what we pray for all the time?
When I was first saved 23 years ago I used to tell people that I witnessed to on the streets that if they come to Jesus their lives would work out for the better, and that their prayers would be answered. I was wrong! Yes our lives do work out for the better, but only after we submit our life and will to Jesus, and surrender to Him by giving Him complete control.
God always hears our prayers, He doesn't always answer them. Sometimes He is silent. If you are a young Christian and have never experienced this than just wait a little while, you will. God never ignores us or forgets about us, but sometimes He is just silent for a little while. We have to be patient, and continue to seek Him through the silence. After all, are we just serving Him because of what we are getting out of the relationship? Or because He is the almighty God who is worthy to be praised and served. This is when we come to the point where we serve the Lord because it is the right thing to do, not because we feel right doing it, although most of the time we do feel right doing it.
I believe God always hears our prayers. Proverbs 15:29 says "The LORD is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous." Sometimes He does not answer us right away because He wants us to continue to seek Him about it. He wants us to be pro-active in our faith, and in our Christian walk so that it becomes our pleasure to spend time with Him in prayer rather than just our duty.
The more time we spend in prayer, talking with the Lord, the more we will get to know Him and what His will is for us rather than just what we want. 1 John 5:14, and 15 says "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him."
God is faithful, and God is just; God is merciful, and God is good. He is good all of the time, even though we might experience some bad things some of the time. What are you reasons for serving the Lord?
Missions with a Heart for Costa Rica
