Your Prayers Are Heard
“Be the answer to someone else’s prayers,” became the balm for my disappointed heart when my own prayers went unanswered. While it helped in the wait, nothing soothes an anxious heart like knowing your prayers are heard by God.
Many times, the greatest ache of unanswered prayers resides in wondering if God even heard your cry.
We all carry unanswered prayers in our hearts. The longer they remain unanswered, the more we wonder if God listens to our requests.
Despite knowing God promises to hear our prayers and even better, to answer them, we still struggle believing this truth. (1 John 5:14, Proverbs 15:29, Jeremiah 33:3)
Carrying painful unanswered prayers of my own, I intercede faithfully for the needs of others and rejoice as God hears and answers those prayers. Yet with every answered prayer God provides for others, I feel more and more unseen.
Perhaps even forgotten by God. I begin second guessing, questioning my motives, and wondering if I am praying amiss.
This Advent, as I revisited the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth, I found solace in Zechariah’s encounter with the angel Gabriel.
Zechariah and Elizabeth understood living with unanswered prayers. Barren throughout her marriage into her old age, Elizabeth endured the stares, gossip, and stigma associated with infertility.
The prayers of many years weighed heavy upon this couple; their disappointment was a secret carried in quiet misery.
In Luke 1:5-7, God says of Zechariah and Elizabeth that they were both righteous and walked blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of God. Yet they lived knowing God appeared mute to the prayer nearest and dearest to their hearts.
Zechariah, as a priest of God, was one of 20,000 other priests who served by course in the Temple. Luke 1:8-13 informs us when it was his turn for service on the appointed day, he was chosen by lot to burn incense in the holy of holies.
This honor fell on a priest only once in his lifetime. No mere coincidence, God orchestrated this incredible day for Zechariah when he was an old man.
His duty as incense bearer required him to also carry the prayers for the nation of Israel into the holiest place, bringing them before God, while the people waited outside. As he stood pouring out the prayers of others, an angel appeared and said, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard.”
Zechariah received the answer to a prayer deemed hopeless long ago while interceding for others before God.
What for so long dwelled within as a private sorrow, now became a great joy. Elizabeth would bear a son in her old age!
All along God heard their prayers, yet in His sovereign plan, the answer came when all felt hopeless and impossible. Reading this account again breathed fresh hope into my heart for the secret sorrows I carry in my own unanswered prayers.
God sees. God hears. God answers.
Perhaps today you carry unanswered prayer as a secret sorrow. Seeking God, yet He appears mute to your cries. Are you knocking at a door which remains closed? Or worse, maybe you stopped praying altogether, fearing God no longer hears you.
Receive the words the angel spoke to Zechariah; “Do not be afraid,” surrender your fear and frustration from your unanswered prayers and rest in the knowledge, “Your prayer has been heard.”
Though God’s timing may not coincide with your timing, Advent reminds us in the fullness of time, (Galatians 4:4-5) God always keeps His promises.
“Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.”
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