When God Doesn’t Answer

When God Doesn’t Answer

The LORD’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call. Isaiah 59:1

IT’S A LAUGHABLE THOUGHT—God having weak arms and deaf ears. Even the most hardened hearts in Israel and Judah would have known from their own traditions that Yahweh was, at least in theory, able to save. After all, their kingdom was built on remembrances of the Exodus and the Promised Land. Those foundational stories were rehearsed often, even in times when the law had been forgotten. Yet something in the attitudes and behavior of Isaiah’s day suggested people were underestimating this God. They had forgotten that their Savior could actually save.

Isaiah’s passage addresses the problem of people’s prayers not being answered. In his day, their sins had turned God away from them, and he refused to listen. How this plays out in our post–New Testament lives is debatable—our sin has been forever covered by Jesus, though ongoing rebellion surely distorts our prayers and desires—but God’s ability remains unquestioned. He is not a weak God with short arms and limited opportunities. He is no one’s pushover. He is never in a position to be bullied, never at a loss for words, always wielding the upper hand. He is never short of wisdom about what to do, and never short of the means to do it. He sits above all and does what he pleases.

So when we wonder today about unanswered prayers, what thoughts about God go through our minds? Do we wonder if he’s far off or uncaring? Do we relegate all his greatest works to the distant past of the Bible or the distant future of Jesus’ return? Do we beat ourselves up for being unworthy of his wonderful works and assume that only the super-spiritual can experience them? Have we forgotten that the idea of being super-spiritual is mostly a matter of faith?

God is not too weak to save, and he still responds to audacious, persistent faith. If you wonder whether sin might be in the way, confess it, ask forgiveness, and move on. He calls for you to believe him. And when you call for him, he is more than willing and able to hear.

What is impossible to God? Not that which is difficult to his power but that which is contrary to his nature.