Reader Question: “If God hasn’t answered a particular prayer in 7 years and there is no answer – not a yes, or a no, or a wait, or a maybe – just simply no response… When do you stop praying for that thing? Does no answer mean ‘no’ or does it mean to ‘wait’ ?? I feel like as though I’m praying for something that is never going to come to me, and I don’t want to waste time. You know what I mean?”
My Response: Thank you for your question. Your frustration is a commonly felt issue, and a legitimately posed tension in Christian reality.
I don’t know the specific issue in question, so I will address this at a general level. I think the bottom line question from God to us, both throughout the Scriptures and throughout thousands of years of experience among God-followers, is: “Do you trust Me?” I think this is the question before us at all times, but especially in situations of disappointment, silence, confusion, or frustration… No matter the issue, no matter the prayer, no matter the unreceived request, I think what God constantly wants to know is, “Do you trust Me?”
Or stated another way, “Am I enough?”
Now, without knowing your specific issue, it may be hard to drill down any deeper at this point. What I can do, though, is just give you some Scriptures to think about and to integrate into your prayers. I would just encourage you to take the words of these verses, personalize them for yourself and your situation, and then just pray them with an honest and open heart to Father God. Then just wait, and listen – with an open journal page and an uncapped pen – and see what and how God responds:
Psalm 5:1-3- Psalm 143:10
- 1 Kings 19:11-13
- John 10:4,14
- Jeremiah 29:12-14a
- Deuteronomy 4:29
- Acts 13:2a
- Psalm 27:8
- Isaiah 30:18,21
- Matthew 6:31-33
- Matthew 7:7-8
- Psalm 37:4
- Matthew 26:39,42,44
- 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
- Romans 8:24-28,31
I am honored that you asked, and I hope these Scripture references help guide your prayers. Often, when I do not know what to pray, or even how to pray it – or if I have run out of words or energy to pray the same thing I’ve prayed a thousand times before – I turn to the Scriptures, and I pray God’s Word back to Him, with whatever circumstance or situation is most present in my heart or my mind as the subject or focus of that Scripture-guided prayer…
Praying all of God’s very best for you, both now and always. –nick
Like Trees Planted 