When God Doesn’t Immediately Answer, Remember This

God wants you to wait patiently for him to answer your prayer, but he also wants you to wait expectantly. Have faith. Trust God to hear and to answer. When you wait expectantly, you show God that you believe his promises. You believe he’s going to keep his word.

Daniel Boone, the famous frontiersman, was once asked, “Have you ever gotten lost in the wilderness?” He said, “No, I’ve never been lost. I’ve been bewildered for weeks at a time, but I’ve never been lost.”

Some of you may feel bewildered right now. You’re bewildered about your marriage: “I’m praying for it to get better, but it’s not happening.” You’re bewildered about your career: “Do I go up, down, or change jobs?” You’re bewildered about relationships. You may feel powerless and hopeless, like you can’t do anything to change your situation on your own.

Don’t be discouraged! Don’t give up! Look up. Turn to prayer. I have had many requests in my life that I’ve prayed to God that have never been answered. I can think of one prayer that I have prayed almost every day for 24 years, and it hasn’t been answered. I don’t know why God hasn’t chosen to answer that prayer, and I don’t understand it. But I have decided this: Whether or not God ever answers that prayer, I am going to die believing his promises. Because God is a good God, and he knows what’s best, even when I don’t understand it.

When God doesn’t answer your prayers, you need to remember a couple very important truths: First, God is in control, and you’re not. He knows better what you need than you do. There is no mountain too tall that he can’t move it. There is no problem too big that he can’t solve it. There is no sorrow too deep he cannot soothe it. God is in control, and he has a plan.

The second thing you need to remember is that, whether or not you ever receive your answer, God will honor your patience—if not in this world then in eternity.

“I wait expectantly, trusting God to help, for he has promised” (Psalm 130:5 TLB).