Hope, and Why God Delays in Answering Our Prayers

I know several people who have given up on praying because God never answers their prayers. I also know people who stopped believing in God for the same reason. And I totally understand their sentiments. If we are asking for good things, why doesn’t God give it if he loves us? Maybe he loves us but he is not all-powerful as we think he is. Or maybe he loves us and is powerful, but he is not all-knowing and doesn’t know we are asking something, to begin with. These are good arguments, but maybe there is another reason.

What if he is trying to teach us hope?

When we trust and wait for God to do what he promised to do; that is hope. The apostles themselves went through that lesson. When Christ told them he would come back, they thought he would return right away. We can only imagine the excitement in their eyes when he gave them that promise. But fifty days after the crucifixion, he did not return. Weeks turned into months, months into years, and they were getting old and being martyred and yet Christ did not come back. Since they believe Jesus is God, and God won’t lie, they realized he meant he would come back at some point but maybe not in their lifetime. We can imagine their excitement wane, but they did not stop believing he would return. The excitement turned into a longing for that day he would return. (Incidentally, that is the attitude we are meant to experience during Advent.) The excitement and belief were never extinguished; it evolved into hope.

Why make us hope in the first place? The quick answer is that when we get what we’ve waited for, it tastes so much sweeter.

Whenever we ask something from God, the time it takes for him to answer is a small version of our wait for his return. It is a tiny exercise in hope. And when we get what we asked for, it is also a small taste of what humankind will experience when Christ returns. If we think like this, we should relish that waiting time before God answers our prayers. We should also relish the delight when we get what we’ve asked for because we will have tasted a sliver of joy of what it will be like when Christ returns. Think of it as a gift.