Unanswered Prayers

Unanswered Prayers "Then Jesus told His disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up." Luke 18:1 Over the years I have gotten hundreds of responses from my readers, telling me that they are praying constantly for someone, or some situation in their life, but God doesn't seem to be listening and answering their prayer. This is also something that I have struggled with from time to time, as I question why God isn't answering my prayers. Maybe you can relate. You ask God to rescue a friend from addiction, to grant salvation to a loved one, to heal a sick child, to mend a relationship, to help you with your financial situation. All these things you think must be God's will. For years you pray. But you hear nothing back from Him, and you see no results. You remind the Lord that He's powerful. That your request is a good thing. You plead. You wait. You doubt - maybe He doesn't hear you, or maybe He isn't so powerful after all. You quit asking - for days or months. You feel guilty about doubting. You remember that God wants you to take your needs to Him, and you tell Him your requests again. We may sometimes feel we're like the persistent widow in Jesus' parable recorded in Luke 18. She keeps coming to God, badgering him and trying to wear him down so he'll give in. But we know that God is kinder and more powerful than the judge in the parable. We trust Him, for He is good and wise and sovereign. We remember that Jesus said we "should always pray and not lose heart" So we ask Him, "Summon Your power, O God; show us Your strength, O God, as You have done before" (Psalm 68:28). And then we trust Him . . . and wait. We need to realize that God's time is not our time, that He hears us always when we pray, and we need to know He will answer in His time. Robert W. Brock My Daily Devotional Volume Six December 28