Unanswered Prayers?

[dan27]

I don't ask for much but it seems no one hears my prayers.
It crushes my hopes & even my faith in a supreme designer.
What is the fairness in a hard life when some others just coast with all the easy challenges?
Maybe curses are real !
I do not deserve half the losses I have been dealt,
Anyway...never give up is my motto & I won't!
Peace y'all..

 

[Sir Joseph]

Dan27, your questions and frustrations are fair ones shared by both believers and unbelievers. You've mentioned suffering, injustice, and unanswered prayers in the world - 3 important issues which challenge God's existence, goodness, and power.

There are reasonable Christian apologetic answers to these issues but not all of them are comforting or satisfying. Before offering any explanation for why we live in a fallen world and why God allows it, I'd ask first the reason for your feelings. Is there a recent event in your life causing distress that best warrants emotional sympathy and support, or is there a culmination of life events prompting a genuine desire for intellectual answers?

Let me first just address the issue of unanswered prayer. If you have the time and interest, here's an excellent video sermon on the subject. I think it's worth an hour of anyone's time who struggles with life's problems and seemingly unanswered prayers.

 

[ewomack]

Anyway...never give up is my motto & I won't!
Peace y'all..

This philosophy will get you far. Keep going and good luck! The world can be an absurd place, but don't let it beat you down.

 

[Constantin]

I don't ask for much but it seems no one hears my prayers.
It crushes my hopes & even my faith in a supreme designer.
What is the fairness in a hard life when some others just coast with all the easy challenges?

Unanswered prayers are the reason I doubt an all-loving and all-powerful God exists. I know that a God exists, but I doubt His goodness or his omnipotence.

 

[Abstamyous]

In my recovery group, I heard "If you are brave enough to ask God for help, be brave enough to live as though you've received it." If you are willing to pray for someone else, are you willing to continue to show them compassion and kindness despite their life not appearing to improve? Treat yourself the same way.

 

[Draven]

"If you are brave enough to ask God for help, be brave enough to live as though you've received it."

I remember hearing something like this with "manifestation" close to a decade ago. The video I seen was more like, believe the change your asking for is happening now and envision it's happened.
I don't really believe in unanswered prayers and I rarely pray for anything other than forgiveness/repentance, or go to church, but I like to live as if there is a god and that doesn't really change how I am, live or feel about anything.
I love God.

 

[August Campbell]

I don't ask for much but it seems no one hears my prayers.
It crushes my hopes & even my faith in a supreme designer.
What is the fairness in a hard life when some others just coast with all the easy challenges?

Then You are saying you suffer more than others. What specifically are you referring to?

 

[randomguy]

Unanswered prayers? ... nah, f*ck that try sigil magic.

 

[TropicalStarfish]

Then You are saying you suffer more than others. What specifically are you referring to?

@dan27 hasn't been around in a while, I'm fairly certain. He was a cool guy.

 

[darbukanishi]

I don't ask for much but it seems no one hears my prayers.
It crushes my hopes & even my faith in a supreme designer.
What is the fairness in a hard life when some others just coast with all the easy challenges?
Maybe curses are real !
I do not deserve half the losses I have been dealt,
Anyway...never give up is my motto & I won't!
Peace y'all..

Sometimes all it takes is time to get answers to prayers. Sometimes a lot of time. Sometimes, changing the focus of our prayers helps. Sometimes, finding just the right thing to pray for helps.

Anyway, I'm not saying you have to believe, but in my faith, believing (strongly) is generally seen as something you want to do if you want an answer. I'm not accusing you of not having believed, either. You can believe very strongly and still have your experience.

If you're a Christian, you might appreciate the story that Jesus tells about Lazarus and the rich man. (Luke 16:19-31; especially verses 19-22 and 25). Also, John 9:1-3 might provide insight (which shows that things people are going through are not always caused by them having done something wrong).

Likely, you've heard about The Book of Job (in the Old Testament of the Bible). Job is about a righteous rich man who loses everything (his wealth, his family, his friends, his health, his comfort; even his integrity/righteousness is challenged by people who were supposed to be his friends/comforters) and he endures really challenging things, but his end is better than how he began.

I'm not claiming my experiences are particularly as challenging as anyone else's. However, there have been times (which I considered very important) where I didn't feel like God was responding to me about some concerns, and I didn't know why (while it seemed God was responding to other people about the same things like everyday). That continued for a good while, but it did eventually end (although it ended after I prayed for something new, rather than just through patience; and the stuff I was praying for back then, I believe I've been receiving years later). That's not to say everyone has the same experience with prayer, but, I hope it's at least faith-inspiring.

I think sometimes, being in a certain situation can give us a lot of perspective later.

 

[August Campbell]

Sometimes all it takes is time to get answers to prayers. Sometimes a lot of time. Sometimes, changing the focus of our prayers helps. Sometimes, finding just the right thing to pray for helps.

Anyway, I'm not saying you have to believe, but in my faith, believing (strongly) is generally seen as something you want to do if you want an answer. I'm not accusing you of not having believed, either. You can believe very strongly and still have your experience.

If you're a Christian, you might appreciate the story that Jesus tells about Lazarus and the rich man. (Luke 16:19-31; especially verses 19-22 and 25). Also, John 9:1-3 might provide insight (which shows that things people are going through are not always caused by them having done something wrong).

Likely, you've heard about The Book of Job (in the Old Testament of the Bible). Job is about a righteous rich man who loses everything (his wealth, his family, his friends, his health, his comfort; even his integrity/righteousness is challenged by people who were supposed to be his friends/comforters) and he endures really challenging things, but his end is better than how he began.

I'm not claiming my experiences are particularly as challenging as anyone else's. However, there have been times (which I considered very important) where I didn't feel like God was responding to me about some concerns, and I didn't know why (while it seemed God was responding to other people about the same things like everyday). That continued for a good while, but it did eventually end (although it ended after I prayed for something new, rather than just through patience; and the stuff I was praying for back then, I believe I've been receiving years later). That's not to say everyone has the same experience with prayer, but, I hope it's at least faith-inspiring.

I think sometimes, being in a certain situation can give us a lot of perspective later.

Since you seem up to snuff about prayers, you can answer this question. Once at a church service, one of the congregants asked about a married couple whose new-born baby had died shortly after birth. The newborn baby had a congenital disease that was so severe to the point of being life-threatening. The parents were very religious and devout, and obviously prayed fervently for the baby's survival. In spite of all their desperate prayers, the newborn baby died. He was less than a month-old when he died.
You can imagine how distraught the parents felt. When they asked the pastor how come God let the baby die, the pastor answered that it was because God was teaching them a lesson. So my question to you is--what was the lesson? Why did that lesson call for the death of a newborn baby?

 

[darbukanishi]

Since you seem up to snuff about prayers, you can answer this question. Once at a church service, one of the congregants asked about a married couple whose new-born baby had died shortly after birth. The newborn baby had a congenital disease that was so severe to the point of being life-threatening. The parents were very religious and devout, and obviously prayed fervently for the baby's survival. In spite of all their desperate prayers, the newborn baby died. He was less than a month-old when he died.
You can imagine how distraught the parents felt. When they asked the pastor how come God let the baby die, the pastor answered that it was because God was teaching them a lesson. So my question to you is--what was the lesson? Why did that lesson call for the death of a newborn baby?

I can't say I know what the pastor was thinking, but that's not what I would have thought. I could only speculate.

In my faith, we believe that babies are innocent, and if they die, they go to heaven (not somewhere else), and they can have eternal life (so, it's not the end). That's what I would think I would focus on about the situation. I know even knowing that, it can be hard for people, though.