Every believer has this assurance in the Scripture of receiving in faith what we ask in our prayers. However, after praying for a long time in many situations, no answer is forthcoming from the Lord, and we remain stuck in the problem. God is love and has cleansed us of our sins through the sacrifice of His beloved Son and made us a part of His family. Yet why does such a loving God permit the continuation of our sufferings and does not answer our cries for help?
Why does God not answer our prayers? God’s promise is absolutely clear: ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you’ (Matthew 7:7). Many people say it is not true and cite examples of their unanswered prayers. Despite that, we must hold on to the truth of the Word: ‘Let God be true, but every man a liar (or every circumstance a liar)’ (Romans 3:4). God is truthful, and His Word is true, for who will believe in a God who sometimes is true but other times is not? He answers our prayers in different ways, and we may not perceive the answer due to our single-minded focus on what we seek.
First, when our prayers are accepted, we receive the signal to go and move forward to claim and thank Him. Second, when our prayers are not in line with His will or what we ask is going to lead us into sin and away from Him, the answer is ‘no’. We do not understand a no, for we are determined to get what we desire, though the way of praying as taught by the Lord Jesus is clear: ‘Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ (Matthew 6:10). Many times we pray, ‘Your will be changed’ leading to disastrous results. King Hezekiah of Judah was told by Prophet Isaiah about his immediate death as commanded by God (Isaiah 38:1-5). Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, ‘Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart and have done what is good in Your sight.’ God answered his cry and extended his life by fifteen years, and a son, Manasseh, was born to him, and at 12 years of age, he became king after Hezekiah died. He ‘did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations’ around Judah (2 Kings 21:2; 16). He led the people back into sin and ‘shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another’. This was sacrificing the children in fire to Molech, the god of the Canaanites. God answered the prayer of Hezekiah, but that caused great misery for the people.
Third, if our spiritual state is not in line with the expected level for answering a specific prayer, God may answer with a ‘wait and grow’. We, like the moon, do not have any inherent glory of our own but reflect God’s glory to others. The moon is not stationary, and we also must keep moving forward on our walk of obedience and submission. Being stagnant will be like the Dead Sea in Israel, which neither supports life nor has any living beings in it.
Four, our prayer may be right and in line with God’s will, but the timing may not be right. God may be planning to move us to a particular place where we may be able to effectively use that blessing for His glory. In such a situation, we have to wait for the answer to come at the right time and persevere in prayer.
Five, when our prayers are absurd and foolish, God may just laugh and not answer. When we were undergoing training in the Military Academy, during the rainy season, we used to pray for rain during the Physical Training or Drill timing in the morning. But since it was necessary for us, it never rained at that time but only at night.
What happens when we ask in prayer is that God moves immediately and answers us. ‘God is a Spirit’ and He answers us through His Spirit to our spirit (John 4:24). Through faith, we give physical shape to the spiritual. The radio signals are on a different frequency and need to be transformed into the state suited for our ears. Just because we cannot hear does not mean that the Radio Station has stopped transmitting. We are thus a spiritual transformer that converts the spiritual power into physical power or shape. We do not produce the signals or the answers by our own power, for without God we can do nothing. Apostle Paul clarifies this: ‘Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or (even) think, according to the power that works in us’ (Ephesians 3:20). This power is His and from Him but works in and through us.
Now we can better perceive what God has promised in light of ‘whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them’ (Mark 11:24). In faith we receive the answer, and through faith only, in the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit we appropriate that from the spiritual to the physical realm.
Reasons for God not answering our prayers for a long time: Our prayers must fulfill certain conditions to be answered, and some of these are listed. First, God is obliged to answer ‘His sheep’ and, though in His mercy, ‘He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good’ (Matthew 5:45). The redemption through the Lord Jesus’ sacrifice is for all, and many do not seek and receive.
Two, we hesitate to ask, and no answer comes, for many believe that God knows what I need. The promise in the Word is ask and you will receive, and Apostle James says further, ‘You do not have because you do not ask’ (James 4:2). The Almighty God knows what I need, but do I know what I need and ask Him by submitting to Him?
Three, unconfessed sin is a major reason. King David experienced and said, ‘If I regard iniquity in my heart, the LORD will not hear’ (Psalm 66:18). Other Scripture verses, Proverbs 15:29 and 18:29; Isaiah 1:15 and 59:2; and 1 Peter 3:12, also define this cause.
Four, justifying sin or hiding sin by trying to give excuses like Adam and Eve did in the Garden (Genesis 3:12-13). God made His own Son suffer so much with the basic aim of opening a way for us to pray and be blessed. The Word is, ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:9). God is under no obligation to answer the prayers of someone who is in rebellion to Him, though He does so at times to lead them back.
Five, unbelief—God answers our prayers in line with our faith. Apostle James has taught about asking in prayer, ‘Let him (who asks) in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways’ (James 1:6–8). Lord Jesus’ answer to the father of the boy afflicted by the mute spirit was, ‘If you can? All things are possible to him who believes’ (Mark 9:23). He had questioned the ability of the Lord to help, and the Greek word used here is ‘pas’ which means ‘absolute totality in each part’ thus making it whole. God does not leave loose ends and ensures full completion in His answer to prayer.
Six, Prayer withdrawn—God is not governed by our time schedule. Apostle Peter has defined God’s timelessness: ‘Do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day’ (2 Peter 3:8). Invariably we get upset by the delay in the answer and start finding our own solutions to the problem, moving God out.
Seven, unrighteous prayers: If our prayers are not leading into holy and righteous living, God will not answer (James 4:3). God desires His children to be holy and a blessing to others, and ‘if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us’. Invariably, we pray to change His will rather than submit to his will.
Eight, unresolved conflicts – The Lord Jesus’ teaching is to first go and resolve the issue and ‘first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift’ (Matthew 5:23-24).
Nine uncompassionate hearts –The Scripture desires us to glorify God in our lives, but ‘whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be heard’ (Proverbs 21:13). God’s love is revealed in His Son, and He wants us to be like the Son. The one who does not believe in the Son is unloving and becomes unlovable to God Himself.
Ten, not loving your wife – All believers are commanded by God to ‘dwell with them (your wives) with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered’ (1 Peter 3:7-9). A husband who does not love and care for his wife is likely to be denied any answer to his prayers.
During the times of the Lord Jesus, the status of a woman was very low, and she was neither allowed to give testimony, nor learn Scripture from a Rabbi, nor own any property and was denied a share in the inheritance. Yet the message of His birth was revealed to a woman (Mary); the first person to see the resurrected Lord was a woman, Mary Magdalene, who also became the first Apostle of God. Anyone maltreating a woman or a girl child will kindle the anger of the Lord against himself. We can be assured that none of the above reasons for God not answering our prayers are beyond rectification, and we can do it ourselves.
Being filled with hope and faith— Prophet Daniel fasted for 21 days to seek the LORD God for the return of the exiles from Babylonian captivity to Jerusalem. Gabriel, an archangel from heaven, came and said to him, ‘Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before God, your words were heard’ (Daniel 10:12–13). But because of satanic opposition, he reached Daniel after twenty-one days. A believer has the indwelling Holy Spirit to connect him to God, and what is prayed is received in faith. However, it may manifest in the physical state in a moment or later, and the delay could be for any length of time, depending on many factors. But we must never waiver in belief that God has already answered your prayer.
The principle is very clear: you must believe that you receive when you pray for God, and His Word is truth, and He does not want us to believe in a lie (Mark 11:24). On another occasion, Daniel was still praying when Gabriel came to him with the answer and told him, ‘As soon as you began, a word went out from God’ about his vision and understanding. In both cases, God answered immediately, but the circumstances caused the time difference in the answer reaching Prophet Daniel. Our Lord and Saviour is the same ‘yesterday and today and forever’ (Hebrews 13:8). The answer to prayers is dependent on your closeness to God—not that He discriminates, but the one who is closer to Him also understands and lives in obedience to His divine will.
King David had experienced this and could say, ‘Delight yourself in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart’ (Psalm 37:4). It is misunderstood to mean that God will give what we desire, and Apostle Paul has clarified this. The Scripture teaches, ‘For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure’ (Philippians 2:13). God transforms our will and desires and then guides us to do all for His joy. In light of this, we must realize that our prayers also must be in conformity to His revealed will in the Word of God and as led by the Holy Spirit. Once we surrender, He takes over, and it becomes easy to wait for the answers to prayers to be manifested, for we wait for His good pleasure and timing. The timing of the answer is also related to the relative importance of the answer to our lives. If it can wait, He will let it be so and prepare us for that in the interim.
A believer can be afflicted by the devil and his forces of evil, the will of the individual himself, unbelief, or any other cause to desire wrong things. God cannot be considered to be unpredictable in the mode and timing of answering our prayers. We begin to release our faith over a situation to bring complete answer to our prayers only once we are set in our faith in God, who is to answer.
King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon made an image of gold that was ninety feet tall and nine feet wide, and everyone was to bow down before that when the music played. Daniel’s three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, the three Hebrew slaves who were then important officials of the kingdom, refused to follow the command. The king commanded them to be thrown into the furnace that had been heated seven times more than normal. The three answered the king, ‘Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O King. But if not, let it be known to you, O King, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image that you have set up’ (Daniel 3:17–18). They had faith in God and declared that faith over the situation while even being ready to face no as an answer as being the will of God. It is such faith that moves God to act and take charge to help us out as well as strengthen our faith!
God is bound by His Word and answers our prayers accordingly. Many times either we cannot understand pr perceive that or reject the same. Any answer from God that is contrary to our prayer or wish is taken as the work of the devil. The more we get to know and get close to God in and through His Word, the more is our understanding of His ways. There is no deficiency in God or His desire to bless us, but in us, for we must align ourselves to His ways!
