Have you ever noticed that sometimes your prayers don’t seem to be answered? That they seem to get lost in the wind? Elizabeth must have thought so, too.
She grew up looking forward to having children, especially a son. In her time and country a childless woman was looked down upon as inferior, lower status. And status was everything.
So when she married, her teenage expectations ran high. But year after childless year rolled by. Into her 20′s, 30′s, 40′s . . . and still no child. How she longed for a child! She prayed, she cried, she agonized, like the biblical Hannah of old, but still God seemed to turn a deaf ear.
Finally it was too late. There would be no child. Her and her husband’s name would not live on. There was no use now to pray for a child, for it was impossible. Her hopes were destroyed.
But the amazing thing is that through the decades of her private agony, she and her husband remained faithful to God, obedient to His will. Even when she could not understand. Even when God turned a deaf ear to the one thing she wanted most in life.
On top of her personal trouble, times were tough. Her country was ruled by a foreign power. She and her people were not free, and were reminded of it every time they set foot out of their homes. Religion of the day seemed empty and meaningless, filled with rules but devoid of relationship. Religious leaders lacked a shepherd’s love for their people. Consequently, people lost sight of who God was. Crime was on the increase, and organizations developed to overthrow the foreign government. Elizabeth’s country seemed as barren spiritually as she was physically. The devout cried out for deliverance, but it did not come.
Let’s stop for a moment. Have you ever prayed for something you wanted more than life itself – but your prayer wasn’t answered? Maybe you prayed for the healing of a loved one, and the person died. Maybe you cried out for financial survival and instead, you endured poverty. Maybe you pleaded to fulfill a life dream, but it came crashing down around you instead. What do you do then?
Some people give up on God and walk away from Him. Some stop believing in His love. Some cease to pray since it “didn’t work” anyway.
Others go back to God in their grief and sorrow, and hang on while the waves crash around them. They may question, they may be angry, but they hold on anyway, knowing underneath all the emotion that God loves them and has not deserted them.
Elizabeth’s story has a surprise ending. God answered the prayers of not only Elizabeth and Zacharias, but of Israel as well. You can read their story in Luke 1:5-25.
Nothing erased Elizabeth’s decades of sorrow. God did not answer her prayers as she wanted Him to. But He answered in a larger way than she expected.
God seems to have a bigger agenda than just our individual requests. He cares about every tiny thing that happens to us. But He answers in ways that He knows is best in the long run. When He answered Elizabeth’s prayers for a son, He also answered the prayers of the devout in Israel as well. Her child was bound up in the destiny of the nation. Her son was not just hers, but God’s – and Israel’s. This was a much bigger answer to Elizabeth’s prayer then she expected!
I believe that God works in our lives this way, as well. We may not see or understand what He is doing, and we may have to wait a long time, but as we continue to be “righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless” (Luke 1:6), He will answer our prayers in ways we could never dream.
What are your thoughts?
![](\\\"http://faithfulbloggers.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/BD125X125-1.png\\\")
Thanks Pastor for sharing this post to us! Just always keep your good post coming!
Candice Michelle recently posted..חינוך למבוגרים
Good to see you, Candice!
Good to see you also Pastor! Thank you very much for the post you’ve made.
Candice Michelle recently posted..יועצת שינה
Nothing is easier than giving up after praying and praying for something. What was Christ’s teaching about persistence. He told the story of the Judge and poor woman who sought justice. The judge finally listened to her and saw to it that she was not going to give up her quest.
I suppose the lesson we learn from unanswered prayer is that if we try hard enough to conquer bad habits, some sin which clings to us, etc, persistence is the only way. We have to try and keep trying. On and on until God by His grace unfetters us. If only we tried as hard to overcome sin as our need is to get God’s gifts!
Hi Dave, The story of the judge and the woman is a great story! She simply doesn’t give up! And I agree — where it concerns our own character such as bad habits/sin, we can come boldly to God and be persistent in asking for help. He will answer those prayers and help us overcome, for sure.
You bring up an interesting point. We desire things in this life, even God’s gifts, but most of those things are material. I think as we get closer to God we will have more desire to be like Him — to overcome sin and be transformed into His image.
This posting by Pastor Sherry highlights the fact that as long we we trust God and truly believe that He has our best interests at heart, He will work miracles. But Sherry makes a crucial point – He will often wait until the benefit far exceeds just our own personal want or need. When God answers our prayers, many are often impacted in ways we never could have foreseen. Those are God moments.
Kristina Schwende recently posted..Psalm 51:8-10
Hi Kristina, I like the way you said that — God waits until the benefit far exceeds our own personal want or need. Since God is God, He can answer a prayer in such a way that it makes a global impact. And we, with our limited vision on earth, will not know the results until heaven. Back to trusting God . . .
This is such an insightful post that has encouraged me to think beyond my personal circumstances, it’s so true sometimes when God doesn’t seem to answer our prayer we might lose hold of Him but the scriptures says that our prayer is not answered because we ask amiss! God works according to His perfect divine will and we rarely pray according to His will, I’m grateful for this blog post because it has helped me to re-recognise (I know not a word) that God’ s plan is much more than my own desire and will but is bound up with the lives of everyone who He has destined me to touch, for me it really emphasises the point that I must begin to pray more for His will over my own.
Thanks again
Florence Achama recently posted..God is light: Light in the Bible
Oh wow, Florence — “pray more for His will over my own.” So often I get caught up in the circumstances of my own life, not seeing beyond the immediate crisis or problem. But God has all knowledge, and even when He doesn’t answer immediately, or answers in a different way than I would choose, I can trust that He will work things out for the ultimate good of all involved, including me. Therefore I can pray the Lord’s Prayer in trust — “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
I am so glad that the God we have committed our hearts and lives to, hears our cries and indeed knows well, the deep things of our hearts and has created a plan for us that will fulfill the deepest desires of our hearts. It is when we yield and surrender that we learn that the “fullness of time” is best!
Jeannie Pallett recently posted..Today I Am
Well spoken, Jeannie! We can trust all things to God because He holds our lives, our hearts, our futures.
Cold comfort, especially for me, but maybe we need to be thankful for the prayers that God didn’t answer.
I’m sure there are prayers in all our lives that would answer to that observation!
There are two responses I think of to this post. First, I tend to err on the side of thinking God is always going to say No to my prayers. So my faith tends to be smaller. However, He commands me to ask! That does not mean that He will answer according to what I think I want every time. My second response is that I need to increase my knowledge of God: When I grow in my knowledge of His amazing Person, I realize how wise, powerful, and sovereign He in: I can trust in His character and promises, knowing the end result with be the best.
Steve Borgman recently posted..How To Build Your Personal Leadership
Steve, I should’ve had you write the blog I just scheduled for tomorrow! The issue of unanswered prayer comes home to roost when a crisis happens in one’s life. But as you said, we ARE commanded to ask . . . and then our faith can leave the answer with God because we’ve learned to trust Him. Goes right along with what I’ve been thinking about recently. Thanks for posting this.
Hello Pastor Sherry,
I believe that our prayers are answered when we are totally detached from the outcome.
From my experience and working with energy each time I had a goal I was obsessed about, never would the goal or the dream manifest in this physical reality.
Prosperity thinking to me is pray , ask with the best intention always asking that this dream is realized for the best of of all.
If the dream does not manifest, this means I need to look inside me what I am attached to, what this dream means to me and what are the other ways I can achieve the same result, always with no attachment.
From the place of non – attachment miracles happen, I have seen this many times!
Great post and great questions to ask oneself!
Hi Patricia,
That’s an interesting way to put it — “totally detached from the outcome.” I have phrased it differently, but the concept is pretty much the same. We get in trouble when we start telling God exactly how and when and where to answer our prayer. By (in your words) being detached from His answer, we can be more ready for Him to answer in the way He knows best. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!