Why God Didn't Answer Your Prayer

​Have you lost faith because of unanswered prayer? Do you know someone who has? Read what the Bible has to say for such situations.

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If you’re like me, you know at least one person who doesn’t believe in God anymore because of unanswered prayer. The person knelt down and sincerely prayed, but God was silent. Therefore, there is no God.

In the Bible, God repeatedly compares our relationship to Him as a marriage. When Israel received the Ten Commandments, they entered a covenant with God to take Him as their God, and God swore they would be His people and that He would live with them (Leviticus 26). As was common during that period, the marriage covenant was sealed with a blood sacrifice (Exodus 24:3–8). When the people turned away from God to idols, instead of calling them sinners, God called them adulterers (Jeremiah 3:8).

​In the New Testament, Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to a marriage (Matthew 22:1–10, AKJV), Paul recognized God claims believers as His bride (Ephesians 5:30), and John wrote that those who reach Heaven attend, “the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9, AKJV).

So, let’s run with that analogy for a minute.

God asks me to marry Him. I say yes. God and I enter the marriage covenant and move into our house. For a while, everything is great. But then the newlywed vibe fades. I want to do things my way, regardless of what my husband says. I compare God to other men and question if he is the best I can do. And so I leave. I live my life. I do what I want and am happy to do so. I find a new house. I make new friends. I settle into my new home.
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Then, one day, something happens. The knob falls off my bedroom door. So, I call God to ask him to come over and fix it. When he says no, I become furious and rant about what a horrible person he is.

That’s silly, right? I shouldn’t get mad at my husband for not being there. I shouldn’t expect him to come over and fix something when I’ve abandoned the marriage.
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But that’s what we do. We live without God and then act surprised or angry when he isn’t there to answer our prayers. If we walk out on God, it’s not his fault he’s not around. It’s ours. If he doesn’t answer when we call, that’s not his fault. We chose to silence him.
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Finally, as God said through the prophet Isaiah, “Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:1–2, AKJV)

I hope this clarifies a difficult issue. God doesn’t abandon people. People abandon God.

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