The Gospel text puts me in a dilemma because I believe that scripture is always correct and true. God never lies and always fulfills His promises. The Lord tells us today that all prayers are answered.
Knock and it will be opened, seek and you will find. There is certainty in His statement. But we know from experience that not all prayers are answered.
We then excuse God and say that what we are asking for is not good for us or that we will not benefit from what we are asking for. Maybe we can say that for some of our prayers. However, some of our prayers are good, like when we pray for peace, spiritual or physical healing, and other basic needs.
Whether we like it or not, some prayers are not answered, or better still, are not answered the way we like it. This then places us in a dilemma because God promises that all prayers will be answered and then somehow we experience that even good prayers don’t seem to be answered by God.
Let me share with you what I do when that occasion happens.
When I pray, when I sacrifice and practically cry and kneel before God and ask Him to give me grace and blessing and grant my petitions and nothing happens, I look at the cross and ask the Father, “Why did you allow Your Son to suffer this way?”
It is a mystery that the Father allowed His only Begotten Son to suffer that way. It is also a mystery why some of our prayers are not answered by God the way we expect them to be answered. There will always be mysteries in life. If you can understand why the Father allowed His Son to die on the cross perhaps you will be able to understand why some good prayers are not answered.
THE MYSTERY OF PRAYER
Lk. 11:9
Only Jesus, Always Jesus
