When prayers are not answered

I cry out to God; yes, I shout. Oh, that God would listen to me! When I was in deep trouble, I searched for the Lord. All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven, but my soul was not comforted. I think of God, and I moan, overwhelmed with longing for his help... And I said, “This is my fate; the Most High has turned his hand against me.” But then I recall all you have done, O Lord; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago. Psalms 77:1-3, 10-11

There is, of course, a sense in which everyone in the world is religious, even though they may be those that will reject that term for themselves. But we particularly believe in the unseen dimensions of life. We believe that there are certain things in life that can never be adequately explained. There are realities beyond our comprehension. We are, in that sense, religious people. We believe God touches life at every stage and every area of our experience. Yet in some moment of desperate need where we turn to God in prayer asking Him to help but finding nothing is happening. It seemed that all the doors apparently shut and there was no response even to the most urgent and passionate plea from our hearts. When we do not get the help we crave and need so desperately, our hearts ask, “Why?” Doubts deluge our minds and we wonder what is wrong. This was the kind of problem the Psalmist was facing from the text. He experienced what seemed to be unresponsiveness of God to his prayers. Despite of this, he did not stop to plead to God. His constant cry for help to God prevented him to continue to be despair. This is what brought him out from misery when he started to think of the past where he experienced God’s faithfulness and His presence. He realized that he had been looking his circumstances in the wrong way that they clouded his judgment. The fact that God has been faithful in the past, it means that there will always be hope for the future. The God of the past has not changed and He will remain faithful. No matter how gloomy the darkness of your present circumstances, God is still greater and He is control. Instead of finding answers on why He does this and why He doesn’t do that, turn to Him in worship. “O God, your ways are holy. Is there any god as mighty as you? You are the God of great wonders!” (Psalms 77:13-14). Let us meet with Him in worship and be satisfied with the fact that He is God. Only then we will find ourselves no longer bothered by what He does for His thoughts and His ways are higher than ours. ““My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine” (Isaiah 55:8).

Blessings,

Noel De Guzman

www.my-wbc.com