Even as I said the prayer out loud, alone in the car, I imagined the words hitting the ceiling and bouncing back down. Not heard. Forgotten.
It’s how my heart felt as I had been crying out the same prayer over and over for years and still there was no change.
Did God even care? I imagined him sitting up there, arms crossed, a smirk on his face. He knows He can do something about it, but He won’t. Like a judge who has the ability to let someone go but instead smirks and slams the gavel for a more worse fate.
It wasn’t a pretty image. And I knew in the deepest parts of my heart that it wasn’t true. But the seemingly endless years of an unanswered prayer was weighing heavy.
But I know this truth: He who promised is faithful. The sun rose this morning and it will set this evening. It is unwavering in its progression across the sky and in its setting on the horizon. Just as our God is faithful. And he’s not the uncaring judge, but in fact is the loving Father. He isn’t withholding for His own amusement. Instead He is providing exactly what we need when we are supposed to have it. We have a limited view. We only see the present and a bit in the past. However, God’s omniscience means He sees along the whole timeline of the ages, knows how it’s all supposed to work out, even when we do not.
Maybe you’re in the middle of heartache, unanswered prayers, and waiting. What do we do in the middle of all of this?
I have found encouragement in Hebrews 10:23-25:
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
1. Hold fast to your confession of hope – for He who promised is faithful
2. Stir one another on to love and good works
3. Meet together with friends and encourage one another
It won’t make the prayer become answered or the waiting end, but it will remind us of the hope of our salvation, help us to get the focus off ourselves while we serve others, and remind us that we are not alone as we gather with friends.
God is not afraid of our angry questions. Take them to Him and sprinkle a bit of Hebrews 10 into your day as well.
Through these 3 steps we’ll find that perhaps, without us realizing it, God has been answering our prayers all along. Just not in the ways that we had imagined.
