Anger with God: Blocking Answers to Prayer
Life is Hard
As an online coach, I recently fielded a chat from someone struggling with life. She has prayed for years for a breakthrough, but none has come. Her circumstances were challenging enough, but what made matters far worse was her anger and disappointment with God.
When life's difficulties smack us in the noggin, we're motivated to reduce the suffering. Most people of faith choose prayer, among other measures, but that doesn't always produce immediate results.
Piled atop the mounting frustration, we often see things as unfair. Why? Because as people made in God's image, we're wired to seek justice. So, it's natural to fall into this woman's trap. However, no one ever guaranteed us fairness, not here and now.
When I learned more about her situation, it became clear that she wasn't putting feet to her prayers. Her passivity was working against her requests and deepening her despair. Worse than her stubbornness, she had developed a bitter spirit—even acknowledged it—but failed to see its destructive effects.
Making a List, Checking it Twice
At the crux of her problem was a faulty concept about God. I see this often when chatting with people who claim to know God but have encountered a roadblock and become stuck. They ascribe to Him the role of Santa Claus. But that's not who He is.
They don't realize that God owes us nothing. It's the other way around; we owe Him everything.
God paid the ultimate price to save us. He came to Earth as the perfect God-man Jesus Christ, modeled righteous behavior for us, and taught us the truth. Yet we crucified Him on the cross even though He did nothing wrong. As it turns out, this was God's plan, to shed His blood to pay the penalty for our sins. Deliverance from sin disentangles us and allows us a right relationship with a holy God, without which we're doomed. He did this willingly for us because He loves us and is merciful.
There's an inherent lack of humility when prayers morph into demands. Anger with God over unanswered requests also suggests an underappreciation of one's spiritual condition and the consequences of our sin apart from Christ.
Has such a person abdicated the throne of her heart to Jesus, or is she still sitting on it herself?
Just as God is not Santa Claus, we aren't pure, lily-white lambs. Regardless of how long we've walked with Jesus, we'll still need to plead His blood on judgment day to get into heaven. We don't measure up.
Not everyone who has come to faith has counted the cost of obedience. Even so, God is still on our side, not against us. Yet an enemy works to convince us otherwise.
When Prayers Become Demands
I don't want to minimize the pain of people who have prayed for years with no breakthrough for a worthy request. But we all have something that weighs us down—broken relationships, health issues, disappointments, tragedies. As a wise man once said, we can get bitter . . . or better.
Often our prayers are thwarted because of sin—ours or someone else's. Man's abuse of the gift of free will has created no shortage of victims. We also live in a fallen world, where death and disease abound.
Can we trust that God wants something better for us than what we want?
He needs our cooperation! Isn't that fascinating? We can block His attempts to bless us when we exercise His gift of free will—to act contrary to His will for us or not act at all—without realizing what we're doing. Sometimes we must lean hard into Him to get on the same page.
I prayed for years for a godly companion. It took over two decades before that prayer was answered. Praise God it was! But before He answered it, He used that challenging time to teach me and build deeper character. He doesn't waste anything.
Meanwhile, I learned what it was like to wait on Him. I learned to be thankful and content with what He'd already done in my life.
After spending much time with that mad-at-God chatter, it was hard to move her. I don't think I got through to her, which means she'll struggle longer than necessary. God isn't a meanie out to deny His people deep and lasting joy. To the contrary. But we only reap the full benefit when we do things on His terms, not ours.
“These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.” —Isaiah 66:2b NIV
Copyright © 2024 Tim Bishop
