Home > Today's Christian
> The Single Life
> Faith
The Gift of Unanswered Prayer
Sometimes God's "no" is exactly what we need.
By Jerry Sittser
 1 of 4
It is every mother's worst nightmare. Her 3-year-old son, Kostya, is dying of an incurable disease. The mother believes that God can heal her little boy. She alternates agonizingly between hope and despair, fighting and giving up. Still, she prays, "imbuing her prayer with all the power of her soul, although somewhere deep within her she feared that God would not move the mountain-that He would act not according to her desires, but according to His own will."
Strange as it may sound, we need unanswered prayer.
Her little boy dies. Why? she thinks to herself. Why would the God to whom I prayed so much allow him to die?
The great Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy tells this woman's story in a short story titled "Prayer," which he wrote after reading about a shipwreck in the United States in which many children died. Tolstoy wrote the story to explore the problem of unanswered prayer.
I read the story only recently, when I was pondering the problem myself. I once thought that unanswered prayer was either the result of God's sovereign will, which functions like a trump card, making our prayers largely irrelevant, or the result of human failure, which makes our prayers unacceptable to God, however needy we are. In either case, the outcome is the same-unanswered prayer.
A startling idea
Tolstoy put me into a new idea, both troubling and helpful. What would happen, I wondered, if all our prayers were answered?
I searched my memory, trying to recall some of the prayers I prayed many years ago. I thought about the early and heady years of serving as a youth pastor in southern California when I was ready to conquer the world, with or without Christ. Within two years the high school group I led grew from 20 members to 125. It was the group in the area to attend. I was riding a wave of success. I witnessed many answers to prayer and enjoyed the fruits of my labor. Everything I touched turned into gold.
We pray not only as saints but also as sinners, very much inclined to use prayer to advance our own selfish interests.
Eventually the ministry leveled off and lost momentum. And thank God it did, for I had become insufferably proud, a self-appointed expert in youth ministry. I wonder what would have happened to me had all my prayers been answered during those early years of ministry, if our group had continued to grow, if our program had continued to receive recognition. Perhaps unanswered prayer was good for me.
When we pray, we pray not only as saints but also as sinners, very much inclined to use prayer to advance our own selfish interests, even when we pray out of desperation. Prayer for that reason is highly complex. On the one hand, the very act of praying reminds us that we are children of God. On the other hand, that same act of praying exposes us for the fallen creatures we are.
Browse More Today's Christian
Home | People of Faith | Stories of Hope | Today's Culture
Build Your Faith | Laughing Matters | Archives | Contact Us
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Try Today's Christian Woman Free!
|
 |
|
No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only.
If you decide you want to keep Today's Christian Woman coming, honor your invoice for just $17.95 and receive five more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless.
Give Today's Christian Woman as a gift
Order a gift subscription!
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
| |
|
