Unanswered Prayer

 

John 14:13-14 “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

Those are pretty powerful words!

The natural question we might have in reading that is to wonder “Is God saying that he will give me whatever I ask for?”

The fast answer is yes….and…. no.

The part of this scripture that becomes distorted and misinterpreted is in the understanding of the word “ask”

The Greek form of this word is

παρακαλώ-To beg, seek, request, call for

Now, when we understand this in our own way we picture someone thinking or praying out loud a request to God.

“Dear Lord, please give me a new job!”

The prayer goes out and the waiting begins, and this is where disappointment grows. The “new job” may not come. You’ve prayed it over and over. You’ve read John 14:13-14 again and again. Whats going on!!??

Well, our “Ask” and Gods deeper understanding of our “Ask” is different.

You may have asked for a new job but your reasons are deeper than you might have verbalized or expressed. Perhaps you want to get away from a difficult co-worker, maybe you need more money to pay the rent, or you just don’t feel appreciated.

God doesn’t look at the surface words of our requests, he see’s deep into our hearts. There is a story behind every ask and God knows it. God knows what you need before you even ask.

The thing is, we’re horrible “askers”. I’m not sure if that’s even a word, but I’m going for it here to help in the explanation.

Think of the things small children ask for and how as adults we can see right through them.

You're in aisle four of the toy department and little Tommy is having a melt down. He is insisting that he wants the small toy truck! He needs it! As he begs his parent, tears stream down his little cheeks and his frustration grows.

Of course Tommy doesn’t “need” this truck, in all honesty what he probably needs at the moment is a nice long nap! But there’s more behind his ask than meets the eye.

What Tommy wants is to make friends easily. He’s lonely. He’s just moved to a new place and a new school and in his mind if he has this truck, people will want to be his friend!

So the reality becomes, instead of Tommy crying and yelling out in aisle four that he wants that truck, the truth is if he was honest with himself he’d be crying and yelling out “I want friends!”

We don’t get much better at the “ask” when we get older.

The “Please give me a new job God” might really mean “I’m scared about money situations right now and I need help” or “I want to feel more important than this job makes me feel” or “I don’t want to deal with this difficult co-worker”

God looks at our tear stained faces and knows what the the REAL “ask” is.

So, we might pray “I want a new job God!” When that new job doesn’t come we think “Well there goes another un-answered prayer”. But here’s the thing; there’s a good chance God has or is answering the true need of your heart.

Maybe bills start to get paid. Perhaps there is an opportunity to grow in the present position. Maybe you're confidence is building. Maybe God wants you to work on your relationship with your co-worker so God works in you the ability to navigate this difficult situation. God might build in you the strength to seek out new opportunities in your present job. Perhaps what you really needed all along was more confidence...not really a new job.

So many times as we pray a prayer that we’ve hung on to for so long, we become blind to the fact that the real “ask”, the real “need” has been answered.

Sit down with God and quiet your mind. Think about the things you’ve been asking him for and pray that he reveals the true “asks” of your heart. Then ask him to show you the ways that he’s been working to heal those things in you. You’ll be surprised what he may reveal to you.

When we spend time doing this, we find that our prayers aren’t “unanswered” …they’ve just been answered in ways we never imagined.

-Pastor Patti