Sometimes the most painful periods in our lives come in the form of unanswered prayer. When occasional hardships come our way, most of the time we can weather the storms. But when we go to God time and time and yet our sincere prayers seem to go unheeded, we may wonder whether God is listening, cares for us, or even exists. There are few things that make God seem more distant as a perpetual prayers that goes unanswered.
Misunderstanding Or Malpractice
The pain of unanswered prayers is especially poignant because our observations seem to contradict what appears to be promised in the Bible. In John 16:23, Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” And there are other verses that seem to make this extraordinary promise. Yet our day-to-day lives and some other passages in the Bible (such as 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 where Paul discusses his “thorn”) appear to contradict the seemingly obvious claim of these verses. Why is that?
The reason, I believe, is because these verses have been taken out of context from the remainder of the Bible. Obviously, there needs to be some conditions to this promise before it is answered. God is not our ever present Santa Claus. He is not going to answer the drug dealer’s prayer to sell more cocaine on the street! But the problem is that many churches do not teach what these qualification are. And worse, some actually preach a “name it and claim it” doctrine for prayer and turn God into our ever-present “Candy Man.”
In my occupation, occasionally I hear about a doctor being sued for medical malpractice. What this means is that a doctor is being accused of failing a patient in some manner. In many churches, there has been some spiritual malpractice happening—especially regarding the topic of unanswered prayer. Some pastors will teach that if a person prays for something in faith, then God will automatically and unconditionally answer that prayer. Therefore, if a prayer is not answered by God, then the reason is simply from a lack of faith. Now that may be the case. But the Bible gives many other reasons for unanswered prayers. Attributing all unanswered prayers to a lack of faith strikes me as simplistic, irresponsible, dangerous, and cruel.
So what are these qualifications?¹
1. A life that is righteous, pleasing to God, and opposed to sin (see 1 John 3:22, Psalms 66:18, and 1 Peter 3:12). This qualification makes logical sense. If we are living a life that is contradictory to the teachings of God, why should He answer our prayers? If a student asks God for wisdom and strength to pass an exam, but he has been cheating on every previous exam, why should God help?
2. Motives that are not selfish and self-seeking (see James 4:3). The person who is asking God to make him a millionaire or to give him a new Porsche should not expect such a prayer to be answered. A good question to ask is this: how is God glorified through this request?
3. Faith (see Hebrews 11:6, James 1:6-8, and Matthew 17:20). Jesus teaches that faith is extremely important. And the wonderful part of faith is that if we have very little of it, we can always ask for more. God loves such a prayer—Lord I believe, but help me with my unbelief.
4. Perseverance and earnestness in prayer (see Luke 18:1-18). The problem with most of our prayers is that many times we don’t care if they are answered. God values those prayers that are genuine and thoughtful.
5. The prayer, no matter how good or noble, needs to be within the realm of God’s will (see 1 John 5:14-15). Sometimes, although we are living a righteous life, have good motives, possess faith, and are earnest in our prayers, we will still have unanswered prayers. The reason is simply because those prayers, although good, may not be within God’s will for our lives. But, fortunately, we can still trust Him—even if His answer is no.
“Be Still My Soul”
In my life, I can honestly say that I have seen many more prayers answered than not. And I am not an unusual case. But it is comforting to know that even when we do get the occasional unanswered prayer and disappointment, we can simply trust that God is still on our side and will never abandon us. This hymn reminds us of this simple fact (Psalm 46:10-11)
¹In the book Hard Questions, Real Answers, Dr. William Lane Craig discusses this topic of unanswered prayer with thoroughness, clarity, and sensitivity (much better than this short summary can ever do here).
Be Still My Soul
Katharina von Schlegel was born in 1697 and attached to a small ducal court in Köthen, Germany. Other than those small bits of information, very little is known about the hymn writer. The words were translated from German to English by Jane Borthwick (1813-1897). The melody was written by the composer Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) and was paired to the translated lyrics around 1927 by David Evans (1874-1948), a Oxford trained organist and music professor.
