Back in January, I began an article on prayer. In the Bible, we are exhorted to pray, yet often our prayers go unanswered. Over the years, I’ve collected many Biblical reasons why this happens. In January I mentioned two. The first reason I cited was sin in our lives: “Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or His ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you so that He does not hear” (Isa. 59:1-2).
The next reason our prayers may not be answered is that we ask for something with wrong motives: “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:3).
In February, I added two more. Reason #3 would be laziness or non-perseverance on our part. In Luke 18, the Lord Jesus told us a parable about praying and not giving up, or losing heart…“Then Jesus told His disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” Reason #4 is something that most people never consider: disrespect of the marriage covenant: “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers” (1 Pet 3:7).
So now, let me add two more reasons why your prayers may not be answered. Reason #5 is God’s Sovereign timing…maybe the LORD’s answer to your prayer is “YES, but in My timing!” In the 5th chapter of John’s gospel, we read the story of a man who was a paralytic for 38 years! But in God’s timing, or to use a Biblical phrase, “in the fullness of time,” God walked by the man. For 38 years, the man had wanted to walk, but for 38 years he lay paralyzed…until Jesus healed him.
And then we have the story of others who had to wait in God’s plan…like Hannah praying for years for children (remember Samuel?). Isaac “prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived.” What you might have missed, unless you put the pieces of the puzzle together, was that Isaac “prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife” for twenty years! (Gen. 25:20; 26). You could say that reason #5, God’s timing, ties in beautifully with reason #3…perseverance in praying.
