God Does Not Always Answer Our Prayers?

“God does not always answer our prayers.” Almost all speakers I have heard talking about prayer do state this. It has always been troubling me. I find two problems here. Firstly, this statement implies that prayer is all about asking and answering. We ask something from God and God answers. It seems that God is regarded as a genie that always provides whatever the person who controls it asks. This is not the essence of prayer, at least for Christianity. Asking for something is only a small part of prayer dimensions. In fact, it is the shallowest understanding of prayer. The heart of prayer is to commune with God. Exchanging our feeling and thoughts with God. To go into the very heart of God, this is the heart of prayer.

Secondly, I find the understanding is based on the presupposition that answering prayers equals answering ‘yes’. It means when God says ‘no’ to our requests, we neglect his answer and act as if God has not answered our prayers. This is very childish. Children usually cannot accept a ‘no’ answer from their parents. They will conclude quickly that their parents do not love them if their requests are not granted. As they grow, they would understand that their parents have actually ‘a better answer’ when they say ‘no’ to their children. Most of the time, I find that when I think God does not answer my request, he has actually answered ‘no’. I just cannot accept it. So, God always answers our prayers, more accurately our requests. His answer is either ‘yes’ or ‘no’.