Are Our Prayers Always Heard?

God is capable of so much. In fact, he is capable of all. He is almighty and all-knowing and wills only what is good for us. If this is true, then it is often hard for us to understand why bad or even evil things happen to us or to those we love. If God is SO powerful and SO good and he IS all-knowing, then WHY? And if prayer can accomplish anything, then where is its work in the world? We can sometimes think we don't see it.

This is a mystery that none of us will fully understand until we meet The Lord face-to-face. We see this in the book of Job, where a good man lamented that he, though righteous in all his life, had to suffer much. At one point Job was left with NOTHING. No health, no family, no cattle, no home, no respect from those around him. Nothing. And he prayed to God asking him what so many of us ask: Why? What did I do? And how do I fix it? Lord...? God...? Are you there...?"

God doesn't give Job an answer in this life as to "why", only to ask him a rhetorical question: "Where were you when I made the deeps and the mountains and hung the stars in the sky and taught the sun it's courses and the rain it's seasons?" In the New Testament, we see Jesus, in his life, also has an answer for Job. He shows us, Job's friends, how to suffer. And he does it meekly and humbly and obediently. Though, near the end, when all is darkest, he does cry out "why have you abandoned me?" but this is more for our benefit than any doubt he had in his Father.  In the Gospels he encourages us to pray unceasingly. He encourages us to ask The Father for all good things, and to do it repeatedly. To knock and to keep knocking, even when the enemy tries to convince us that no one's listening.

But if God knows all, then doesn't he know our prayers before they escape our lips? He who knows every heart better than we know ourselves? He knows our every need and values us more than many sparrows, and yet we are called to pray for our needs AND for the needs of others around us? Do we really need to give voice to our needs? How often? For how long?

If you had a child or a spouse, would you ever leave the house without saying "I love you"? And wouldn't you do it each and every day?  How often is often enough?  

When we havn't heard from a good friend in a while, is remembering how their voice sounded on the phone in the past good enough?  Wouldn't we rather keep in touch?  Can we call our friendships true friendships if we never hear from each other and never visit or call or write to each other?  Isn't that what relationship is all about?

We are made by God and for God as rational beings who can think, create, and communicate. God wants a little of that communication back from us.  He wants right relationship with us and he wants us to have right relationship with each other.  That means interacting in healthy and meaningful ways, not just superficial ways.  He asks us to pray for each other because this is a spiritual work of mercy.  Some of what prayer accomplishes or why he designed it to work the way it does is total mystery to us.  We just won't know the extent of the impact of our praying or not praying until te last day, but he tries to tell us in scripture that it is important and that we are heard. 

Another thing about committing something to prayer versus just "sending good thoughts" or "wishing you well."  Saying a thing seems to cement that thing. Thinking to ourselves "I hope Bobby's surgery goes well" is different from praying over it. There's a way we engage our hearts and souls toward willing this well-being that is different than just mentally wishing it and dismissing that wish without dwelling on it and truly asking for it.  We have to break ourselves of this "wishing" and actually formulate a prayer, talk to God, even if that is just in a few impromptu words and actually say, even silently in our hearts, "Help Bobby with his surgery!" and mean it, really mean it.  Address God with every ounce of your heart and ask him for what it is you seek.  The words aren't as important as the intent that you are coming to God with it and not just thinking "oh I wish". 

Remember that we are made in the image and likeness of God, who's Word made all things... then what can our words make?  God hears us, even if we have to say it repeatedly, and we should courageously speak to our God, the source and summit of our very being. 

Remember also, that when it seems that the answers to our prayers are delayed, that even Daniel prayed for 21 days and the angel came to him (Daniel 10:12) and said "fear not Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and to chasten yourself before God, your words were heard."  God hears our prayers right away, even before they come from our lips, it seems, but in this case we are told directly in scripture that the angel had a battle to fight in just reaching Daniel to reassure him and to teach him understanding in answer to his prayer.  Why was the angel delayed?  Because of the powers of darkness, because of the enemy.  Because of things we cannot see.  So never doubt that you are heard, it just may take a while for the asnwer to come, or in the case of Job, God may be teaching us that he does not have to explain all his ways to us.  I suppose all we can do is pray and trust and find out why... at the very end.