Freewill

Christians pray for many different things: a happy marriage, for success, and so on. Yet it turns out those very people can have bad marriages and fail at their endeavors.

We try to reason why this is so. Some believe that somehow their prayer was answered. They say the possible answers are "Yes," "No," and "Wait." And while technically any one of these three words can qualify as an "answer" to most requests, it does not truly address the question, "Why didn't God give me what I requested."

Others say that it wasn't answered because it "wasn't for the best," or it "wasn't His will." These answers are problematic, too, because we understand that there are prayers with answers that would fit into God's will; yet they too go unanswered.

For example, if we pray for a friend or family member to be saved, and that person is never saved, that unanswered prayer definitely wasn't for the best. It also wasn't God's will that the individual not be saved (2 Peter 3:9).

I believe the real reason God doesn't answer many prayers according to their requests is not found in these simple "Yes, No, Wait, God's will" cliches. Scripture doesn't use these answers, yet we still use them to offer comfort. Often, however, these cliches merely silence those who truly need understanding, and even drive others to doubt if God is there.

In the situation where a loved one is never saved, I think the real reason is a more practical one — freewill. God has always allowed us freewill. And though He is always working, He never manipulates. Therefore, if a prayer involves manipulating someone's freewill, that prayer will not be answered.

That certainly shouldn't stop us from praying about these situations, however. We are instructed to bring our every request to God (Phil 4:6-7). Additionally, we should always be ready to respond with a word (1 Pet 3:15) or to help in any situation (2 Thes 2:16-17; Eph 2:10; Col 1:9-10), and prayer prepares our minds to do so.