Thursday, May 28, 2009

the blessing of unsanswered prayer

I hate unanswered prayer. This is not just because I want what I pray for—although that would be nice!—but because my unbelieving heart takes unanswered prayer as an opportunity to doubt God. Here are some examples:

I pray for my son's only close friend, whom we've lost contact with, to call. He doesn't.

I pray that I'll be able to find my car keys so I can get the kids to school on time. They're late.

I pray that my husband will get over his illness; after all, he needs to teach the Bible and care for our family. He stays sick.

I pray that my excited, expectant three-year-old will see a kangaroo on the way home. There's no wildlife to be seen.

I pray that my mood will lift. I stay discouraged.

These are all trivial prayers, and I could give you much bigger examples. But, oddly, I find it easier to trust God with the bigger things. It's the small prayers that trip me up.

When they remain unanswered, my internal monologue begins ...

read the rest at Sola Panel

2 comments:

Linda said...

Hi Jean

Just spotted that your Sola Panel post on this was one of the A la Carte posts from other websites on the popular Evangelical Christian blog, Challies.com on Thursday 28 May and thought you might be interested, if you didn't already know.
http://www.challies.com/sideblog/archives/2009/05/a_la_carte_528_1.php

I found your post thought provoking and challenging.

I pray that you and all your family have a good weekend.

Linda

Jean said...

Thanks, Linda, that's encouraging, isn't it?