The Blessing of Unanswered Prayer

“When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4:3)

A pastor writes: ‘According to legend, King Midas loved gold so much that when Dionysus granted him a wish, Midas asked that everything he touched would turn to gold. At first, Midas was delighted with his request, but when he discovered that his touch made food inedible and his embrace made loved ones lifeless, he stumbled upon what sociologist Robert Merton called the law of unintended consequences. Like Midas, getting what we want can result in…undesirable consequences. So much for the Midas touch.

Sometimes an unanswered prayer is God, in His sovereign wisdom, sparing us the pain of unintended consequences. Sometimes God allows what His power could prevent. Most of the time that causes us a great deal of temporal angst, but someday we will owe God as many thank-yous for the prayers He did not answer as the ones He did.’ James writes, ‘You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures’ (vv. 2-3). C.S. Lewis said, ‘If God had granted all the silly prayers I’ve made in my life, where would I be now?’

The pastor continues: ‘Many of our prayers are misguided. We pray for comfort instead of character. We pray for an easy way out instead of the strength to make it through…Many of our prayers would short-circuit God’s plans and purposes for our lives if He answered them. Maybe we should stop asking God to get us out of difficult circumstances and start asking Him what He wants us to get out of those difficult circumstances.’

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for the unanswered prayers – at least the answers I wanted – and help me remember to always say “but thy will be done!” In Jesus’ name, Amen.