When Prayers Go Unanswered...and You Don't See What God Seems to See

Ever been here?:

...when days, weeks, or even months pass and our prayers seem to go unanswered, it’s easy to feel God has forgotten us. Perhaps we can struggle through the day with its distractions, but at night it’s doubly difficult to deal with our anxious thoughts. Worries loom large, and the dark hours seem endless. Utter weariness makes it look impossible to face the new day.

Yeah, me too. But we're not forgotten. Seeing that is often about asking God to help us see things as He does. And that's not easy either. Then, I'm left to consider God's gracious track record, His "unfailing love" as Psalm 13 puts it--including Christ's death on the cross for a sinner like me and of His resurrection from the dead to give me life with God.

Sometimes, living through the mystery of seemingly unanswered prayer is about praising God anyway. When I do, I often end up asking the same question with which Bono ends, When I Look at the World:

Tell me, tell me, what do you see?
Tell me, tell me, what's wrong with me?

Read the whole thing.

Psalm 13

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

¹ How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
² How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
    and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
    How long will my enemy triumph over me?

³ Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
    Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
⁴ and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
    and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

⁵ But I trust in your unfailing love;
    my heart rejoices in your salvation.
⁶ I will sing the Lord’s praise,
    for he has been good to me.