When Jesus taught us to pray, He included a fundamental principle, “Thy will be done” (Matthew 6:10). That means the purpose of prayer is to seek God’s will and align with that rather than to insist upon our own way. He invites us to pour our hearts out to Him, but is our goal to get Him to do what we want, or are we truly seeking His will for our lives and the people we love? In addition, when we say that “God answered our prayer,” does it apply only when we get what we want?

We must stop and consider that God does not always answer us exactly the same way or by granting what we ask for in every instance. We tend to think that if we ask for something, we will get it. There certainly are times when we ask God for something, and the answer is “Yes!” Glory hallelujah! Little do we realize that it was God’s intent all along. Remember, Jesus taught us to pray, “…thy will be done.”

When people give their testimony, they often say, “See, I prayed, and God answered my prayer!” (Once again, does God only answer prayers when He says, “Yes”?) Sometimes, though, people do not recognize that all blessings come from God, so they never ask Him—or later thank Him—for the blessings in life. They strive for a goal. Perhaps God intends to grant their request, but these people have not yet learned to come to Him. As the words to the doxology proclaim, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” They think that blessings come from themselves, and they cannot understand why they have not reached their goals. It is because, in their case, they never acknowledge God! As a last resort, they get down on their knees and beseech One Almighty God, and He says, “Sure! You finally came to Me!”

In another instance, the answer is “No.” God sees the bigger picture. What we ask might be perfectly fine, but it does not fit into God’s plan or purpose, so His answer is, “No.” It is often hard for us to accept. We might see this when we visit a hospital. At one end of the hall is a gravely ill person whose family earnestly prays that their loved one is restored, and God answers, “Yes.” At the other end of the hall is another family who loves and prays just as hard, but the answer is “No,” and their loved one passes. God, in His wisdom, decided it was time to call that person home. God answered the prayer, but do we trust Him enough to accept His answer?

Sometimes He answers this way, “Yes, but not yet,” because God, in His wisdom, knows that much needs to happen first, some of which may have nothing to do with us. We might be praying for item G on the list, but He knows that A, B, C, D, E, and F must happen first. We must be patient. Another time God’s answer might be, “No, because I’ve got something better than you ever considered.” Sometimes the answer is, “I’m not going to tell you yet because in your particular case, you need to learn to trust Me.” There are different ways in which God responds, but in the end, God alone has the comprehensive view; He is the One who sees all.

One of the best examples in Scripture is the story of the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus was about to be arrested and was praying, “…let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39), but God answered, “No.” Just as Jesus finished His prayer, the court guards came to arrest Him.

Can you imagine what it would have been like had Jesus not gone to the cross? The disciples fled; John, Mary, and the others stood at the foot of the cross looking up  and may have wondered, “How can this be?” On Easter Sunday, they found out!

God answers prayers according to His sovereign, loving, and righteous will. Do we trust Him?

by Pastor Steven Grant