Praising God for Unanswered Prayers

CJ Mahaney, speaking on True Greatness from Mark 10, praises God for unanswered prayers. I’m like “What?”, that’s the time I don’t want to praise God, because he hasn’t answered my prayers, he hasn’t done what I asked, was he listening, does he care? These are the questions of course which expose my heart, they expose a wrong view of God…

“God is sovereign, not sentimental” – should add to that that God is both sovereign AND good, he works all things for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28), so we know that we can trust God when our prayers are not answered, because he is working out his good and perfect will. He is not sentimental, not a therapist in the sky, not a kindof Father Christmas, he gives us what we need, and answers prayers in his perfect timing.

Unanswered prayers also expose false motives, when we resent God for not bowing to our whims, we see our selfish motives, we see that we desire earthly treasure, earthly happiness and pleasure. We see that our prayers did not come from a desire for personal holiness and for the glory of God, but too often from selfish ambition and a desire to order our lives by our own plans and purposes, not God’s.

But, when we praise God for unanswered prayers, we purify ourselves, we turn away from our false view of God, we expose and repent of our false motives. God gets the glory and we learn to trust him more. I didn’t really used to think I was a proud person, (occasionally I was quite proud of that) but I see more and more that my pride is in the form of self-reliance, not trusting God’s plans and his timing, not trusting that he will work for good in all situations. Maybe, praising God for not answering my stupid selfish prayers is the best prayer I can pray…