When You Don't Understand GodSample

Why doesn’t God answer every prayer?

Billy Graham said, “prayer is simply a two-way conversation between you and God.” Because of that, we can come to God, our Creator, at any time in our day and know He’ll meet us right where we are. Isn’t it amazing that the God of the universe hears us?

But we don’t always grasp everything about prayer and often say, “God didn’t answer my prayer.” The truth is that God does indeed answer every prayer we pray. Sometimes He says, “Yes,” sometimes He says, “No,” and other times He says, “Wait.” When we receive “no” or “wait” as an answer to our prayers, we assume that “He didn’t answer our prayer.” Let’s dive in a little deeper to this.

When God Says Yes

The good news is that God says yes a lot! It’s true. When we pray and ask for salvation through Jesus, He saves us. When we confess our sins, He forgives us. When we ask for wisdom, He grants it. He also says yes to so many other requests that we make—like giving us peace when we’re nervous, bringing a loved one through a surgery, or providing for our needs when we have nothing left. God desires to give us good and perfect gifts. He wants the best for us and often gives us things we desire, too!

When God Says No

When people say God didn’t answer their prayer, what really happened is that God said “no.” We ask God for the job, the spouse, or the child, and He doesn’t grant it. That’s hard. Because we don’t understand why God wouldn’t say “yes” to a great job, an amazing spouse, or a precious child. It just doesn’t make sense, and quite frankly, it hurts. But His "no" often leads to a better option for us.

When God Says Wait

Hearing “wait” can sometimes be harder than hearing a “no.” And often we don’t really hear God audibly say “wait,” we just end up waiting and assume He’s delayed His response. Waiting isn’t fun, and we certainly don’t like it when we’re waiting for God to grant our petition. What we need to understand is that timing is everything, and God is never late. He knows exactly when to say “yes” to your appeal. 

No matter the answer we receive to our prayer, we need to understand that every single prayer that we pray to God, He hears and answers. And as we grow in our faith and our relationship with Him grows deeper, we’ll begin to trust His “wait” and “no” answers because we know He has the best plans in the world. In addition to that, we’ll begin to ask questions that we know would line up with His truth and His will. 

So, seek God above everything, allow Him to fill up your heart, mind, soul, and spirit, and ask Him to replace your desires with His best!