Does God always answer prayers? In the fourth chapter of Psalms, David empathically says yes! David writes during a time of national crisis when many of his people were wondering if God had abandoned them and if they could have fixed their problems by offering blessings to other gods.
King David tells everyone to wait for God, that He hears the prayers of the faithful and will rescue them. He even cautions them against doubting God as they drift off to sleep. You know how your mind wanders as you wait for sleep. Mine always does, especially if I have to wait a while for sleep. David says to search your heart during those times, but not to pray to other gods or to doubt that God will rescue you.
He then ends with the thoughts that God has filled him with more joy than a great harvest and David can sleep peacefully, confident in God’s protection.
These days it's not always easy to know if God has answered our prayers. Often He answers "no" since He knows something better is on the way. Sometimes His answer is "wait". We humans want answers immediately, especially since we can now use the internet to get instant answers to any question we seem to have. Being patient for God's time isn't easy, but sometimes it's what we need to do. Garth Brooks created a song a few years ago called "Unanswered Prayers". It's one of my favorite songs and a great reminder that what we want is not always what we need. The singer talks about a visit to a homecoming game at his old high school where he ran into the girl he used to pray to God every night to marry. The two of them drifted apart and he married someone else that he truly loved. The singer had once been obsessed with his old sweetheart, but now he agreed that she wasn't better than what God had planned for him, his current wife. As he says in his refrain and at the end of the song: "Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers".
I often try to go after what I want and forget to figure out if it's what God has planned for me. When I left high school, I had some very definite plans on how my life would go. The things I remember being completely certain of in high school are the things that I got all wrong. I never saw myself being who I am now, but I'm happy. God doesn't always give us what we think we want or need, but what He has planned is absolutely amazing.
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