When You Pray and the Sky Seems Frozen

Let’s face it. We all get slammed at times with the unexpected and the difficult.

We’re cruising along peacefully and suddenly wham we’re blindsided.

It may be a challenge in our marriage.

We get laid off from our job or our business contracts.

We get a dreaded phone call from our doctor.

And suddenly our world turns upside down.

So we pray but the sky seems like the underside of a frozen lake.

We’re told to have more faith and we try. We really do. Yet nothing seems to work. No answers. No solutions. No hope. Just silence.

And we feebly ask, “Why?”

I know. I’ve been there.

Yet, I’ve found a shift of focus makes all the difference.

Paul writes, “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.” (Ephesians 3: 14-15 NIV)

Paul writes from a prison cell in Rome where he would eventually be executed. He knows about suffering.
Yet he points out some key elements if we want to pray and see.

First, he speaks of kneeling. He realizes God is the supreme God who created all things. Nothing is beyond his power. Jesus modeled that miracle working power.

And second, he refers to us being part of God’s family. God loves us with an unfathomable love. And he delights to bless us with everything he’s promised.

So why don’t we always see his answers then? I mean I’ve prayed for plenty of things that didn’t come to pass the way I asked. Though honestly, as I look back I’m glad many didn’t.

I can’t give you a definite answer. But I can tell you what has worked for me.

First I pray for what God actually promises rather than only for what I want. He’s not a genie.

And second because of that I pray truly expecting him to answer because I know he’s able and wants to.

God wants us to see our prayers answered if we’ll only look for it.

When have you seen God answer your prayers?