Unanswered prayers.<\/p>\n
At least, that\u2019s the term we use when a prayer seems to have no resonance, no evidence of heaven touching earth. In other words, God didn\u2019t do what we wanted him to do, when we wanted him to do it.<\/p>\n
You prayed for your parents to stay together and now they\u2019re divorced.<\/p>\n
You prayed for God to open the door for a career opportunity and now you\u2019re even more confused about what to do than before.<\/p>\n
You prayed for things to work out with your relationship and now your ex has moved on.<\/p>\n
You prayed for healing and now things look worse than ever.<\/p>\n
I was recently on a phone with a friend who\u2019s become disillusioned with God, prayer, church, and what it all means. He\u2019s a smart guy and has a way of cutting through empty sentiments with his wit and honesty.<\/p>\n
At one point, while we were specifically talking about prayer, he said flatly, \u201cAddison, I just don\u2019t like waking up early to have a conversation with someone who doesn\u2019t talk back. I mean, God\u2019s the only one who gets away with not showing up for a moment that he expects you to show up for daily.\u201d<\/p>\n
My friend felt like God had let him down at key moments of his life, moments when he needed answers, moments when he felt lost and alone, moments when life had hit him hard. He did his part, but God didn\u2019t \u201cshow up\u201d . . . and that just seemed like a bad deal to him. His transactional view of prayer didn\u2019t pay out, and he was left wondering,<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s the point of praying if God doesn\u2019t show up or talk back?\u201d<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re still reading this blog, chances are you\u2019re serious about this whole prayer thing, so I want to give you a few things to help you on your journey.<\/p>\n
I had a season of about five years when I felt abandoned by God. Insomnia stole my nights. Anxiety crippled my peace. And I was barely getting through the days. I felt stuck in a canyon. Doubt and discouragement were my companions and when it came to prayer the only words that I could hear were the echoes of my cries.<\/p>\n
As you can imagine, I started to question the effectiveness of my prayers. I had to wonder if I was having words with God or just words with myself.<\/p>\n
Through this time, though, God showed me that He\u2019s not afraid of my doubt. I was reminded that even Abraham, the one who Scripture refers to as the father of faith, doubted God. His doubt led to some questionable behavior, such as giving his wife to other men and having sex with a servant to birth an heir. Yet in his letter to Rome (and us), Paul writes that somehow Abraham never gave into unbelief. That led me to search out the difference between unbelief and doubt, because surely Abraham doubted.<\/p>\n
To put it simply, unbelief is the rejection of God himself, whereas doubt is the rejection of our idea of God. Unbelief is to deny God\u2019s faithfulness. Doubt is to question when or how God will be faithful. Unbelief leads to apathy. Doubt often results in misdirected action.<\/p>\n
I realized that it wasn\u2019t that I doubted God\u2019s ability to do whatever he wants to do, I just doubted myself, my worthiness, perception, and skill.<\/p>\n\n\t\t