I, by nature, am an extremely impatient person. Blame it on my upbringing, indwelling sin or temperament, (probably the latter two) but regardless of the reason, it is unavoidable. When I want something I tend to do whatever I need to do to get it, and my theological understanding of prayer leads me to “pray without ceasing” when I want something. This is not spiritual, but is in fact a betrayal of my theology. Let me explain, a lot of the time my prayer is not based on me wanting more of Jesus, but me wanting more stuff for myself; it’s narcissistic. Not that things are bad, and God has given me plenty of great things that I do not deserve even a bit, but I handle unanswered prayer as any impatient person would: pridefully. The bible shows that the God Christians pray to is not mean and cruel, but gracious and sovereign (Romans 8:28-29). A lesson Christians need to learn (usually the hard way) is the purpose of unanswered prayer in the context of who God is and what he does. Matt Chandler’s thoughts on this sometimes painful truth are extremely helpful:
”Everybody is comfortable with the statement, “God is in control.” You’ll find it on coffee cups, you’ll find it on bumper stickers. The theological term is “God is sovereign.” God’s sovereignty is a warm blanket to anyone’s soul, regardless of circumstance. Because here’s all it means. God knows well beyond what we can know, He sees well beyond what we can see and He understands things that we, on our best day, can barely see as a shadow. And through His goodness and through His sovereignty, He governs. So sometimes you’re going to get told “no” because what’s most glorious to God and what’s best for you is for you to hear “no.” Even Garth Brooks saw that one coming. “Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers.” In the song, he goes to some football game and sees some girl that he wanted to marry, and he’s like, “Eww!” And he’s grateful that he didn’t. When all is said and done, even a secular guy is saying, “We shouldn’t always get what we want in that moment.” And there are things that seem like a must today that we learn years later are not what we needed at all. But in that moment, we wanted it so bad that we felt betrayed when we didn’t get it. And yet years later, we’ll look back and go, “Man, thank God that didn’t happen.” So He hears us and He answers. Those are profound simple truths that if you get it, it changes how you interact with God and it changes how you see life.”- Matt Chandler
Listen to entire message here: God Hears and Responds (pt.2) | Matt Chandler
Read it here: God Hears and Responds Manuscript (.pdf)
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