2-25 North Point

When Prayer Isn’t Answered

“For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.” – 2 Corinthians 12:8

Maybe you’ve been asking God for something and feel like your prayer has not been answered. As we looked at yesterday, prayer must be Biblically sound and according to God’s will.

We all are prone to ask God for things with selfish motives. This is our human, fleshly nature. Likewise, you have probably never asked God for sickness to strike your family, or for you to have a car accident! We all want good things!

In our text for today, the Apostle Paul had asked (besought) God three times to remove this undesirable circumstance in his life. Then something unexpected happened: God informed Paul that the “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7) was staying!

We can learn from Paul. God’s grace is always sufficient; God’s strength is made perfect when we, in our fleshly weakness, allow ourselves to be used of Him. If we only praised God when the circumstances of life were favorable in our opinions, we really wouldn’t be praising God at all! The power of Christ was revealed in Paul’s weakness; in his lack of self-sufficiency, which required him to rely solely on the power of Christ.

Just because God doesn’t grant our every wish and whim does not mean He doesn’t hear and that He doesn’t care. Often God’s answer to our humble attempts at prayer is no. When we are walking in Him, led by the Spirit of God, we can truly praise God for the “yes” answers to prayer and for the “no” answers!

Think back over your Christian life to some things that you asked God for that now you can clearly see He was right in not granting.
“Heavenly Father, I thank you this morning that you love me enough that You often say “no” to the things I ask for.”