Unanswered Prayers? 5 Possible Reasons Why Your Prayers Are Not Answered
Discover the possible reasons why your prayers seem unanswered. Read on to gain clarity & comfort, find hope, and strengthen your faith.
We’ve all been there before. When you’ve prayed the same prayer over and over, or you have been in a season of waiting, or unsure of what to do next and it feels as though all your prayers are hitting the ceiling. Though we can be certain that God does hear us when we pray, there may also be reasons unknown to us why our prayers seem to go unanswered at times.
We see many different examples of prayer in the Bible. Sometimes those prayers are answered, and other times they aren’t, or God answers them in a way that we don’t recognize or realize because it is not necessarily the answer we were hoping for.
One example of someone who prayed but did not see the hopeful outcome of that prayer is Paul. Most of us know of Paul’s radical transformation, and how God used him as a follower of Christ. Yet, we see that Paul, like us, had something in his life, which he does not specify, but by his description of it, we can tell that it must have been something unpleasant, or that caused him grief.
In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about this “thorn in his flesh,” that was given to him. He says in verses 7 to 10:
“Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
We can see Paul’s desperation here. He says that he pleaded with God three times to take this “pain” or discomfort away that he was struggling with, and God did not answer him in the way he hoped, which for many can sometimes feel as if their prayer has gone unanswered.
But we see that God did in fact answer Paul, and His answer is even greater than taking away this thorn in his flesh. God says to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
If you’re in a place in your life where it feels as though you are weak, or you aren’t receiving answers to your prayers in the way that you have hoped, may God’s sufficiency fill you, and lead you to greater hope and obedience as you seek His will, and turn to Him in unfailing prayer.
With this hope in mind, let’s look at a few reasons why our prayers may go unanswered.
Why Are Prayers Not Answered?
1. Unrepentant Sin
“Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:1-2).
We know from the beginning of time that sin separates us from God. Through sin, death entered into the world and alienated us from God. Yet, we have received grace through Jesus our Lord.
When we do sin, and do so without repenting, we grieve the Holy Spirit who lives in us. When our hearts become hardened, even as Christians, and we live in an unrepentant state, one of the ways God can discipline us is by not answering our prayers.
Our efforts in prayer are best placed toward confessing our sin and asking God to soften our hearts and lead us to live lives that are pleasing to Him rather than gratifying to our flesh.
2. The Wrong Motives
“When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:3).
Have you ever asked for something with the wrong motives? Sometimes we may not even be aware of it, but our motives in asking God for certain things can sometimes be wrong. What constitutes a wrong motivation?
James tells us that wrong motives are when you are asking for something so that you can spend it on your pleasures. In other words, he is saying that prayers that have a selfish attitude to it are done with the wrong motives.
For instance, if you’re praying for a car, yet you do so in a way that says, “God, I would be grateful with whatever you’re able to provide,” that is a heart that truly has a need, and is not displaying any entitled or selfish motivation.
However, if you pray for something specific, let’s say a Lamborghini, the truth is that you don’t need a Lamborghini if you’re really in need of transport. And as you pray for this Lamborghini, you may think to yourself about the ways you will impress others with this vehicle, and how it would add to your reputation.
The difference between the two of these isn’t to say that Lamborghinis are inherently bad. But the heart behind the two shows that one person is in true need, and is asking God for help in their situation, not held up by what kind of car it is God provides them with. Yet, the other person has already shown that their thinking is worldly, and has asked with the wrong motives and not out of true need.
3. An Unbelieving Heart
“But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does” (James 1:6-8).
James has quite a bit to say about the way we pray and the posture of our hearts when we pray. One of the things he talks about is doubt. He says that when we ask in prayer we should believe and not doubt.
He describes the person who comes to God in prayer and who doubts when he asks as someone who is like a wave of the sea. We all know what waves look like. They are blown and tossed by the wind.
What is interesting is that James makes a very strong statement. He says that those who come asking in prayer but who do it with doubt shouldn’t even expect to think that they will receive anything from the Lord.
More than having faith that God will provide for what you asked, I think James is really uncovering a deeper issue that we may be experiencing, and that is doubting God Himself. When we pray, we are appealing to God, who is capable of all things. There is nothing that is too great for the Lord.
When we come to God in prayer, we should not doubt, and be like a double-minded man who is unstable in all he does. Instead, when we come in prayer, we should remember who we are praying to, praying with full confidence that God can do it if He so pleases. And if He does not please, we can find comfort in that too, because whatever God ordains is right.
4. A Prideful Heart
But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:“God opposes the proud, but shows favor to the humble.” – James 4:6
What keeps us from submitting to Christ if not for the prideful, sinful heart that wants to do what it wants to do? We see from scripture that pride is not merely something that God hates, it is a quality that he opposes.
Think of a game of chess. When God is opposing the proud, He sets Himself up against those and opposes those who are filled with pride. Many times He will oppose us, and place things in our lives until we bend the need in humility and submission.
It is a loving thing to have God call you out of pride. But pride is something that we sometimes may not see in ourselves, which is why it is so important to ask God to help us see the ways in which we are prideful and grow a spirit of humility in us.
We know that humility is a part of the fruit of the Spirit, so when we are being prideful, we are not acting out of the Spirit but from the flesh. If your prayer is going unanswered, examine whether you have been prideful. God’s word says that He shows favor to the humble.
5. The Will of God
The sovereignty of God. “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy” (Romans 9:15-16).
Though we may have desires, and there are prayers that we have faithfully prayed, it may be that God’s will is not for you to have what you asked for.
This can sometimes be a hard pill to swallow, but the truth is that God’s will for our lives may look very different from what we envisioned. This does not mean that our prayers are falling on deaf ears. We can be assured that God hears us when we pray, yet that does not always mean that we get what we pray for.
Part of our lives as Christians is seeking God’s will in prayer. So when we are praying for specific things in our lives it is always important to do it with a heart that ultimately seeks God’s will because you know that His will is greater than your desires.
Knowing that God is sovereign over our lives is a comfort that we can delight in every day, because of what God has purposed for us.
