I have always loved the song, “Unanswered Prayers”, by the American Country Music Artist Garth Brooks. It’s about a man who, when in high school, prayed every night for the love of another girl. She was all he could think about and he wanted to be with her forever, but it just didn’t work out.
The man ran into her many years later at a football game in his hometown, his wife was with him. He noticed that his high school girlfriend wasn’t what he had remembered, and they were in two completely different worlds now, and then as the song goes, the man says:
Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers
Remember when you’re talkin’ to the man upstairs
That just because he doesn’t answer doesn’t mean he don’t care
Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers
And then as his old girlfriend walks away, the man says:
And as she walked away and I looked at my wife
And then and there I thanked the good Lord
For the gifts in my life
Unanswered prayers. We all have them. Or so we think.
I think about the story in the song, and I think about similar scenarios in my own life, and I tend to think that it’s not that the prayers are unanswered, but rather God did answer them. For the man in the song, God felt his love, and his desire for this girl, and yet God knew that this girl was not right for him. He knew that the man’s special someone was years down the road, that there was something better and that he would be blessed with a wonderful, loving wife and family and perhaps a better situation.
All the man could see was the present – but God saw many years down the road. God didn’t give him the exact thing he wanted at the time, but God did give the man exactly what he had prayed for, deep from within his soul. He didn’t realize just exactly what he was asking of God, as he surely just saw the surface of his desires. But God sees deep down inside us what we need.
In his persistent prayer, God saw what the boy yearned for, and then blessed him years later with a gift he could not comprehend at that time in his life, but would many years later.
This is the story of life. So many times, we pray for what we want in the present, and we don’t see the big picture and the ramifications. It’s so easy to fall into this trap. We live in a world of instant gratification, and so we want our prayers to be like that too. I’m sure that this is nothing new over the course of history. People are people. Always have been. But we are surely more impatient in this day and age.
We bargain with God – we try to make a deal. We demand things from him – almost ordering Him to help us. And we want it exactly how it fits into our “plan”, and we want it now! And then if things don’t go our way – we yell at Him. We get upset. And then if our world really gets turned upside down and things happen (or don’t happen) for any apparent reason, we lose faith.
We ask, Why would a good God let this happen? Why would a good God not help? Why would a good God take that person from this world at such a young age? Why did I not get that job? Why does God let groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS terrorize us? Why does God let all this violence happen in our society? The list goes on and on…
All simple questions, all complex answers. The only thing we can do is keep asking in faith. God, why do you let this happen? Will you show me the reason? Will you help me to understand? We must build this friendship with Him, just as Abraham did. In the first reading, Abraham converses with God, and when God is about to send His wrath, Abraham asks if He’ll make the innocent people suffer with the guilty. He asks God questions, builds a friendship and a dialogue with God. Abraham is polite. And patient. And non-demanding. He’s trying to understand.
And then Jesus breaks it down in the Gospel. Not only does He tell us how to pray, He says we must also be persistent in our prayer, and persevere in prayer through the tough times. Through those times when no one seems to be opening that door we’re knocking on, but we keep knocking anyway. Persistence pays off.
Through those times when we’re seeking an answer, it’s right under our nose. We can’t see it because we’re right on top of it. It’s only after we walk ahead for a little while, and then look back, only then can we truly gain perspective.
There are many things in my life, things I witness in the world around me, and in the media from around the world that I just do not understand. It’s so tempting to become a hermit, and withdraw from it all. We’re so numb to all the violence in the world, it’s so tempting to turn a blind eye and pretend it does not exist.
But if we do that, if we stop talking to God, and stop asking Him “Why?”, and we stop asking questions, and stop seeking to understand, and we unfriend Him from our lives – then evil wins. We may not understand why things happen, but we’ve got to keep seeking the truth. We’ve got to keep asking God to help us understand, and to give us strength, and to persevere through adversity. We can’t lose faith and we can’t lose hope.
We’ve got to be consistent in our dialogue with Him, asking for the things we need, or want, asking for the good of others. Even if it’s trivial, or even if it may be a little self-serving, it’s still dialogue, and it’s still prayer with Him. He sees right through us. He knows exactly what we need, and when we need it. He just wants us to keep coming to him.
God loves us so much. He gives us gifts beyond our imagination. He will use the trials and tribulations we encounter, and the evils in this world to bless us many times over. We don’t see it at the time. We’re human.
But we can accept this fact, and know that while we may not understand the current circumstances in our lives or in the world, that God has our back, that Jesus is there to help, as long as we keep asking.
This is the truth of God’s love for us, a love and a purpose for us that we cannot understand. But as long as we keep asking, our prayers will be answered in some way, and some day will be apparent to us. Every prayer is answered. It may not be the answer we want at the time, but it’s the answer we need, and the best answer for the long run.
GN 18:20-32; PS 138; COL 2:12-14; LK 11:1-13
