Unanswered Prayer

“Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers,                         Remember when you’re talking to the Man upstairs,
That just because He doesn’t answer doesn’t mean He don’t care ….                                                  Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.”  Garth Brooks

I had the pleasure of attending Garth Brooks’ concert in the Mercedes Benz stadium a few weeks ago.  I love his music, and I discovered that I am not alone!  Ninety thousand of my closest friends love it as well!!  I also learned that this is a close knit group, and if you don’t know all the words to his songs, you are in the minority.

I love several of his songs, but Unanswered Prayer is one of my favorites.  Although, I don’t believe there is such a thing as the unanswered prayer, the story is a sweet one.  I think God answers prayer in one of three ways:  “yes”, “no”, or “wait”, we just don’t always like to accept the answer.

It is during the time that we wait for answers that hope becomes real to us. Hope is defined as “a feeling of  expectation and a desire for a certain thing to happen.”  We hope for the answer to our prayers, but we also hope they will be answered in the way we would like.  God sent Jesus into this world to offer us hope.  That hope is God’s gift to us, and although it is always with us, Christmas reminds us anew of it.  Jesus is the hope of the world.

As we offer prayers during this Advent season, I pray that the hope of God will be real to us through our prayers whether the answer is “yes”, “no”, or “wait”.

“I do not believe there is such a thing in the history of God’s eternal kingdom as a right prayer, offered in the right spirit, that remains forever unanswered.”  Theodore L. Cuyler