Unanswered Prayer (Part 2) Series

We have learned that God invites us to ask Him what we need (Matthew 7:7) because, number one, God wants us to be close to Him; number two, God wants us to always depend on Him; and number three, God wants to show His love to us. When we ask something from Him, we must be ready to get His answer which sometimes is not what we expect, like in this video clip ...

Though God wants us to express or ask for our needs to Him, He doesn't always answer our prayers. Last Sunday, we learned two possibilities why God doesn't fulfill our request. First, because what we ask is not according to His will. 1 John 5:14 says: "And this is the confidence we have in him, that he hears us if we ask anything according to his will." What we ask is not bad or wrong, but it's just not in line with His plans for us, like parents who want to have children, but God didn't give because God has special missions for them, or He wants them to adopt unwanted children. Therefore, it's essential to understand God's specific will for us. We need to spend time with Him in His words and prayers to know His will for our lives.

Illustration: A man shared his broken heart with me about twenty years ago. He was sobbing and couldn't believe that his fiancée had just canceled their marriage, and she moved to the United States. I felt sorry for him but encouraged him to trust the Lord and believe God had a better plan for him. Later he met a godly woman who better fit or more suitable for him. They got married and have two beautiful daughters. So, don't be disappointed with God when He doesn't fulfill your request. He knows what is best for you. His plans are better than ours.

The second possibility why God doesn't answer our prayer is that what we ask is wrong or with wrong motives. Probably this is the main reason why God does not answer many prayers. James 4:3 reminds us – "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." God will not answer our prayers when we ask for something to fulfill our fleshly or worldly desires, such as praying to win a lottery ticket, to get rich, or to pass a final exam without studying seriously. God also will not answer our prayers that would not bring spiritual benefits to us.

Today we will learn the third possibility of why God doesn't answer our prayer. It is because He has already decided something or made a plan and set a specific time to fulfill it. Therefore, we cannot ask for something that isn't according to His plan and time. Let me give you two examples. Numbers chapter 14 tells us that because all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and they didn't believe that God could bring them to the Promised Land, they had to spend in the wilderness for forty years. In verses 34-35, God says, "According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.' I, the Lord, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die."

During those forty years in the wilderness, no matter how hard they prayed to ask God to enter the Promised Land, God will not hear them. Even when Moses prayed to ask God to enter it, God didn't answer. Let's read Deuteronomy 3:25-26: "I pray, let me cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, those pleasant mountains, and Lebanon.' "But the Lord was angry with me on your account, and would not listen to me. So the Lord said to me: 'Enough of that! Speak no more to Me of this matter."

Another example is that the people of Israel were taken into captivity in Babylon for seventy years because they worshiped idols and didn't believe in the true God or YHWH, even though God had warned them for years through His prophets whom He sent to them. No matter how hard they prayed to return to the Promised Land, God won't hear them during those times. Let's read Jeremiah 29:10: "This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place." So, seventy years is the period that God has already set up. After that, God brought them back to Israel.