“Unanswered” Prayers

I’m not really a fan of country music, unless Taylor Swift counts (I’m pretty sure she doesn’t). With Taylor Swift included or not, I do, oddly enough, know my fair share of “country” music lyrics.

One song that has always kind of stuck with me is the one that says, “I thank God for unanswered prayers.” (See, I don’t even know who sings it or what the name of the song is… this just goes to show that I’m so-not-a-country-music-fan.)

I don’t know about you, but I don’t thank God for ‘unanswered’ prayers.

Know why? They simply don’t exist.

For a long time, I kind of thought and felt like they did. I’ve literally spent entire seasons of my life before praying and crying to God about situations in my life that I wished turned out differently than they did.

Even if unanswered prayers did somehow exist, I don’t think I’d thank God for them. I think I’d struggle with them. I’d obsess over them. I’d make them a constant concern on my heart/mind. I’d lose sight of God by focusing too hard on what the answers to my long-awaited prayer requests were. I’d waste a lot of time and energy leaning on my own understanding of things or working and striving to make outcomes favorable to my own liking. Neither of which would be bueno at all.

But from what I’ve been taught my whole life and have now come to understand experientially about God is that He is a loving Father.

He is good.

He only provides what is and would be ultimately good to/for His children.

When we call, He answers us.

Simply put, He answers prayers in three ways: YES, NO, or WAIT.

Creatively put, our minds can’t possibly even conceive all the ways He answers our prayers and works on our behalf.

The only “problem” with the way God answers our prayers is…… us.

If we’re honest with ourselves, we’d recognize that we’re not always in the right state of mind/heart to readily hear the answers He has to give to our prayers.

So what do we do? We label them as “unanswered.” And continue on with our own way of doing things. Sad, but oftentimes true.

We pray, and then go about our day, and then pray some more.

But sometimes, I like to think the way we live our day IS our prayer to God. Don’t get me wrong… prayer is a necessity. To pray without ceasing is both a command and  a goal. All I’m saying is this: our words, actions, and interactions are all an overflow of our hearts, are they not? Anyone can muster up words during “prayer time,” but He ultimately knows what we need better than we do. We need to be ready for when He answers our prayer requests in His way. (I’m preaching to myself here.)

Lately, I’ve been asking the Holy Spirit for some pretty big stuff. I’ve been pouring out to Him some pretty deep and personal things. Along with that, I’ve been begging Him to discern to me what He’s answered ‘yes’ to, what He’s answered ‘no’ to, and what He’s answered ‘wait’ to.

I know He hears, and I know He’s answering. I also know that He offers wisdom and discernment to those who ask for it.

Today, I’m asking you to do the same.

Please do not to settle for the myth that ‘unanswered prayers’ exist.

Don’t use that as an excuse to wreck yourself trying to figure things out or force out the answers on your own terms, liking, and timing.

Trust that God’s already answering over-above-and-to-infinity-and-beyond what you’ve been praying about.

And rest in the knowledge that ultimately, He knows what’s best.