Does God Answer Prayer

I still don't know how God decides to act on one thing but not on another, but I know that God heeds all our prayers.

Job 17:1-16

Reference:  v.1 My spirit is broken, my days are cut short, the grave awaits me. (TNIV Bible)

Explore:  I know that as a pastor it's thought that I understand everything about prayer, but I really don't!  My daughter was asking me about prayer the other day.  She wanted to know if God would always answer prayer, even if the person being prayed for didn't pray.  To put in another way: if a father was praying for his daughter, would God answer the prayer even if the daughter wasn't the one praying?  I still don't know how God decides to act on one thing but not on another, but I know that God heeds all our prayers.  I explained to my daughter that sometimes God will answer with a yes, sometimes a no, and then sometimes God will answer in a way we had never imagined – and we don't usually find this out until later down the track.

Application:  Poor Job was doing a lot of praying in his time of need.  He was in the depths of grief and suffering that he was constantly calling out to God.  The pain for Job was that God was not answering him… straight away.  I think that I never fully appreciate the suffering in this story because I know how it ends.  When you can see the end in sight then it automatically gives you hope.  However when Job was calling out to God he could not see an end, the only hope he had was death.  This is where our faith needs to come into play.  We may not be able to see the end clearly and we may not be able to see how God is moving, but Job's story – as well as many others in the Bible – reminds us that God is there.  God listens to our cries, He heeds our prayers and He does act… just not in the way that we could predict.

Prayer:  Lord, forgive me when I doubt in You.  May I be more diligent in crying out to you and may my faith grow stronger as I wait for Your answers.  Amen.

What is your prayer for today?

Job