When Your Prayers Feel Unheard - Your Nightly Prayer - July 22nd

Rev. Kyle Norman

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Your Nightly Prayer

When Prayers Feel Unheard
by Kyle Norman

TONIGHT’S SCRIPTURE

“They eyes of the Lord are toward the Righteous, and his ears toward their cry.” - Psalm 34:15

SOMETHING TO PONDER

To be a Christian is to pray, and to pray is to wrestle with unanswered prayers. There is no escape from this reality. As we lift our hearts to God in prayer, boldly making our petitions, we won’t always realize what we have prayed for. It may be a physical healing that doesn’t seem to materialize, a job loss comes despite our petitions, or a relationship that we prayed wouldn’t end. Make no mistake, these moments in our lives are hard to walk through, and when these things happen, it is easy to believe that we are, somehow, abandoned by our Lord.

Does God even look upon us? Does the Lord even care about our plight, or what we face? Do our prayers and petitions ever reach God’s ears?

Have you found yourself asking such questions? As you close this day, do you find yourself wrestling with unanswered prayer? Are you tempted to believe yourself to be divinely ignored?

If you find yourself in such a place, take heart. Charles Spurgeon once wrote that God’s delays are not God’s denials. Just because you don’t know how God has heard your prayer, doesn’t mean that God hasn’t heard your prayer. In fact, scripture reminds us that God is not slow in answering prayers, as we understand slowness. A day is like a thousand years to God, and God is always ways deeper and more intricate than we can ever ask or imagine. This is God’s promise to us, based not in the perfection of our prayers, but in the perfection of His love for us.

When we struggle with unanswered prayer, we can get bogged down in trying to figure out why our prayer seems unheard. We ask questions like: if I said the right words, would God respond? What if I didn’t pray long enough? Would my prayer be answered if I were a “better Christian?” But such questions move us in the wrong direction because they make it seem like we need to do something special to be heard. It bears a condemning message that twists the love of God into something we earn.

But none of that is true. God’s gracious and abundant love meets us whenever we cry to him. Psalm 34 reminds you that God is attentive to those who turn to him; God's ears are open to their cry. You can be assured, based upon the assurance of Scripture, that your cries reach the throne of heaven. Every single prayer you pray, no matter how verbose or refined your prayer is, no matter how lengthy it may be, is heard by the Lord who loves you, who sees you, and is with you. In fact, if you read on in Psalm 34, you will read some important affirmations, such as “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears” (vs 17) and “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (vs 18). Such promises are spoken to us precisely for those times when we are tempted to dismiss them. When we are tempted to believe that our prayers go unheard, these promises remind us of God’s loving attentiveness towards us.

God’s ears being open to your prayer, God’s eyes being eternally cast towards you, God’s spirit surrounding you and flowing in this moment, is a truth for your life. Now this may not mean that you realize your prayer – that’s true. There may be heartache, frustration, and even questioning that flows out of this. Again, if you feel this way tonight, you are in good company. Every Christian, in every age, has wrestled with this. But feeling unanswered in prayer is not a testimony to some error or sin in your life. It just means you can’t yet see the intricacy of what God is doing.

Ultimately, the strength of our faith doesn’t lie in realizing what we pray for; the strength of faith comes from daring to bring ourselves to God in prayer, honestly, authentically, and faithfully. And so, when we feel unanswered, that is an invitation to reach out to God even more and rest in the promise of his presence.

YOUR NIGHTLY PRAYER

Gracious Lord,
You invite me to pray to you. You invite me to cry out to you with any thanksgiving, lament, or petition I have. In your graciousness, you invite me to come to you in prayer with the fullness that I am, promising that you will meet me in love. When I struggle to see your response to my prayers, help me to feel you with me. Your presence in my life is better than the realization of any of my requests. So, give me the ability to discern your heart open before me, and your spirit all around me. This I pray
in Jesus’ name. Amen.

THREE THINGS TO MEDITATE UPON

1. Psalm 115 describes the idols of the other nations as having ears but not hearing and eyes but not seeing. This is in direct contrast to God, whose fundamental nature is to see us, hear us, and respond to us. Take a moment to reflect on this aspect of God’s identity.

2. God’s ultimate answer to all our prayers is God’s unyielding presence. Where do you feel God with you?

3. When our prayers feel unheard, it is tempting to turn away from God. How might you take this opportunity to turn closer to God in your life?

The Reverend Dr. Kyle Norman is the Rector of St. Paul’s Cathedral, located in Kamloops BC, Canada. He holds a doctorate in Spiritual formation and is a sought-after writer, speaker, and retreat leader. His writing can be found at Christianity.com, crosswalk.com, ibelieve.com, Renovare Canada, and many others. He also maintains his own blog revkylenorman.ca. He has 20 years of pastoral experience, and his ministry focuses on helping people overcome times of spiritual discouragement.