PRAYER, UNANSWERED

A young boy saw a pack of cigarettes on the ground and decided to try them. He went to a field near his home and, after several fumbling attempts, got one to light up. It didn’t taste good; indeed, it burned his throat and made him cough. But it made him feel very grown up.

Then he saw his father coming. Quickly he put the cigarette behind his back and tried to be casual. Desperate to divert his father’s attention, the young boy pointed to a nearby billboard advertising the circus. “Can we go, Dad? Please, let’s go when it comes to town.”

The father quietly but firmly replied, “Son, never make a petition while at the same time trying to hide a smoldering disobedience.”1046

Students at the university level are usually familiar with an experiment peformed with chickens. A chicken is placed in a cage. On one side of the cage are two buttons, one red and the other green. Every time the chicken pecks the green button, a small amount of chicken feed comes out of a slot below the buttons. However, when the chicken pecks the red button, nothing comes out. The chicken soon learns the game and will repeatedly peck the green button to receive grain.

The interesting thing is that if the experimenter reverses the effect of each button, the chicken eventually realizes that pecking the green button now does nothing, so it stops.

How like chickens we are when we pray! When we turn to God to ask him for something and are not granted our request immediately, we stop praying about it. Why? Because we think of prayer as a supernatural button to press to get what we want. We forget that unanswered prayer is still heard by God, and so his silence is for a purpose. Perhaps he wishes to do more than supply our requests. Perhaps he wishes to draw us closer to him, test the maturity of our faith, or force us to re-evaluate our request.1047

A newborn baby cries frequently when he or she has needs, and the mother comes immediately, day or night, to fill those needs. Thus, children learn to cry when they want Mother’s presence. Later, Mother comes but does not pick up the child; she only softly says, “Hush, child, go back to sleep.” Later she may not even come every time the baby cries. Of course, the baby does not like this one bit, but the feelings of “abandonment” lessen as he or she learns that Mother will always come in the morning. In the process, all babies learn that they cannot manipulate a mother, especially one who distinguishes between her baby’s needs and wants.

So it is with prayer. When we are young believers, God often answers our prayers quickly. Later, as we mature, he uses unanswered prayer as a means of teaching us to rely on him—he who knows our real needs and who is always faithful.1048

Let us not be like the man who was lost in the deep woods. Later, in describing the experience, he told how frightened he was and how he had prayed. “Did God answer your prayer?” someone asked. “Oh, no!” was the reply. “Before God had a chance, a guide came along and showed me the path.”

Was that prayer really unanswered?1049

Dr. Howard Hendricks tells of the time when he was a young man, before he was married. He was aware that certain mothers had set their caps for him on behalf of their daughters. One mother even said to him one day, “Howard, I just want you to know that I’m praying that you’ll be my son-in-law.”

Dr. Hendricks always stops at that point in the story and says, very solemnly, “Have you ever thanked God for unanswered prayer?”1050

George Muller wrote concerning his orphan ministry: “The funds are exhausted. We had been reduced so low as to be at the point of selling those things which could be spared.…” Then a woman arrived who had been traveling four days, bringing with her sufficient funds for the orphanage. Muller and his co-workers had prayed those four days for something God had already answered.

Under these circumstances, Muller made the following observation: “That the money had been so near the orphan house for several days without being given, is a plain proof that it was from the beginning in the heart of God to help us; but because he delights in the prayers of His children, He had allowed us to pray so long; also to try our faith, and to make the answer so much sweeter.” (Cited in George Muller, Autobiography [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1981], p. 110.)1051