03 January, 2023
What to Do When God Doesn’t Hear You
We’ve all been there. Something happens in your life, or you have a need that only God can fill, so you’re on your knees praying for God’s help or provision. You pray, hope that He answers, and continue with your day. The next day you pray again, hope that He answers, and continue with your day. You continue to pray for the same thing, hoping that God will provide, but He just isn’t answering. What gives?
You're Not Alone
The good news is, you’re not alone in this feeling. Every single one of us has been there at some point, feeling like God is just ignoring us for some reason or another. Don’t worry; God doesn’t have some special kind of dislike toward you. He’s not sitting up there saying, “You know what, I specifically don’t want to listen to or answer that specific person’s prayer.”
Rather, the opposite is true.
God has heard every single one of your prayers, whether it seems like it or not.
The Craziness of It
Before we get more into this, can we first just sit back for a second and admit how crazy the concept of prayer is? You can speak words into your mind or out loud and the God who created the universe will hear them and take them into account. He can hear each of our unique voices, even if we all prayed at the same time, and He values every word that we say.
That is just pure insanity.
You have to admit – if prayer is real, which I believe it is, it must be the greatest privilege that we have as human beings. To have a direct line of communication anytime and anyplace with our Creator is beyond our understanding.
So, before we talk about His answer, let’s first appreciate the fact that we even get to ask in the first place.
A False Conflation
Do you know what it means to conflate two things? It means to think that two things are the same or to treat them as if they are the same.
For example, many people conflate love with approval. They think that in order to love someone, you must approve of everything that they do. This is not the case. In fact, true love seeks the best for someone, meaning that approving of things that are bad for someone is not loving at all.
Another common conflation that people make when it comes to God is that they conflate God answering a prayer with God hearing a prayer. They think, “Well if God heard my prayer, surely He would answer it and give me what I asked for.” However, this just isn’t true.
The truth of this was unlocked for me when I was studying Psalm 4.
Psalm 4
Psalm 4 is an amazing expression of David’s longing for the presence of God in his life. If you haven’t read through the Psalms, do yourself a favor and start today. They are picturesque representations of what we still go through today as humans. David was certainly familiar with the human condition.
In Psalm 4, there is an interesting contrast playing out in the first 4 verses. David says:
1 Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!
2 O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies?
Selah
3 But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him.
Psalm 4:1-3
Verse 1, to us, sounds very familiar. We want God to answer when we call out to Him! We want Him to give us relief and to show grace to us as He answers our prayers. However, we often forget the reality of verse 3.
Although David is calling out for God’s response to his prayer, He also knows something else to be true: the Lord hears when I call to Him.
David knows that no matter what God’s answer is to his prayer, God has heard it.
Just because God hasn’t answered David yet does not mean that He has not heard David. Instead, David knows that God hears when he calls to Him.
What About You?
What about you? Have you recognized that God always hears when you call out to Him? Are you stuck conflating the idea of God hearing with God answering?
My friend, wherever you are reading this today, I want you to know that God hears you. An answer may be on the way or maybe your prayer is not meant to be answered but know that He hears you. And that in itself is a great comfort all on its own.
The God of the universe hears your prayer. Never forget that and never let anyone or the waves of life convince you otherwise.
If you have any questions, comments, or thoughts, always feel free to email me at unrollthescrolls@gmail.com. Thanks for reading!