Unanswered Prayer?

Some of my prayers have been offered up to God almost forty years, but without answers. Give up? In myself, I would, but it seems these are prayers that must be prayed. Perhaps they are desires from the heart of God, given to me as a burden to take back to Him in prayer.

I was not thinking about my prayer list when I asked this morning that He would speak to the need of my heart today. He surprised me with this . . .

Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. (Isaiah 30:18–21)

God is waiting too! He waits to answer those prayers. He has those answers stored up and at the right time, I will see and experience His grace. He blesses those who wait for Him. He may send adversity and trials, but He does not hide Himself from me. He gives exact directions and bids me to wait on Him because He is waiting to bless me.

Spurgeon has good things to say about delays in answers to prayer. He reminds me that this is biblical. Jacob did not get the blessing from the Lord until he wrestled all night for it. A Syrophoenician woman asked and Jesus seemed to turn a deaf ear for a while. Paul asked three times that his “thorn in the flesh” might be taken from him. God never did that, but promised that His grace would be sufficient.

Unanswered prayer has reasons. Sometimes God shows His power and sovereignty so I will know He has every right to give or withhold. He is not a doting father who spoils every whim. I need to respect that.

Sometimes the delay is to increase my desire, even to see my necessity more clearly. Then I will value the answer even more when it does come. God wants a grateful heart, but how often I have been blessed only to quickly forget His grace and go on to ask for another blessing?

Also, God may see something in me that needs correction. While it seems I am waiting for His answer, He could be waiting for my obedience. Also, the Bible says, “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Psalm 66:18) so unconfessed sin can block prayer. God is more interested in my character than in doing all that I ask. If I want Him to listen to me, I need to listen to Him.

Another reason is that I might be placing some small reliance on myself instead of trusting entirely in the Lord Jesus. Do I think I can ensure the answers to my prayers by something that I do? Or even by praying the right words? Do I have the audacity to tell Him how to answer me? Sometimes I have, and am ashamed for being so confident in my own ideas. The answers are always up to God, not me. My faith must be in Him, not in anything else.

God sometimes makes me wait that He may more fully display the riches of His grace. Spurgeon says, and I agree, that my prayers are filed in heaven. If they are not immediately answered, it is not because God has forgotten. In His perfect time, He will show His glory — to my delight and satisfaction. Unanswered prayer is never a reason to stop praying.

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Oh Lord, You always know how to encourage and bless me. Even if the answers are delayed, Your heart never changes. You know far more about the burdens and the people on my prayer list than I do. You know what needs to take place and how best to answer each prayer. Change my life so I am a better listener. Give me patience to wait for You as You wait to bless me. Your Word says You can do “exceedingly abundantly above all I can ask or imagine” and for this, the wait will be worth it.