Unanswered Prayers? A Sermon on Psalm 130

There’s a Garth Brooks song that goes, “Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers. Remember when you're talkin' to the man upstairs that just because he doesn't answer doesn't mean he don't care. Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.”

It’s a good song. There are prayers I’ve prayed that I’m glad God hasn’t answered. I’m grateful God didn’t answer my prayer as a five-year old to let me grow up and be a figure skating-ballerina-horse trainer-princess. And I’m very glad God didn’t say yes to my junior-high prayer to marry George Clooney. Sometimes unanswered prayers are good, and we look back and realize that God has our best interest at heart all along.

But for every prayer that we’re grateful wasn’t answered, there’s a burning prayer in our hearts that we want an answer to. Why did things turn out this way? How come this happened? How did we get here?

Psalm 130 begins, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! Hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!” The Psalms talk often about crying to God from the depths. In the New Testament this idea is often described as crying out to God from our hearts. But in the original language the word used isn’t “heart,” it’s actually “guts.” Like we’re crying out to God from the very core of our being, from the deepest places within us. Places with anguish that we cannot even put into words. The Psalmist here is pleading from the deepest places inside him, asking for a listening ear. He wants an answer from God.

Have you ever been in the Psalmist’s place? Crying out to God from the deepest places within you? What happened? I know that in this congregation this morning there are many stories of God intervening—bringing peace and comfort and help. I’m also know that there are stories of God’s silence. Of people who have cried out to God and heard…nothing.

The question then becomes, does God always answer prayer? We read of God answering prayer throughout Scripture and in the history of the church. We see it in the lives of our community. We talked about it last Sunday. But what about when God seems silent? What about prayers that feel unanswered? Is there such a thing as unanswered prayer? Does God always answer?

When we have these troubling questions we must return to the source of wisdom—God’s word to us in Scripture. In Scripture we read that there are different types of answers to our prayers. We see this throughout the Psalms. Sometimes God says “Yes!” and we rejoice. “My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth!” But sometimes God doesn’t say yes. Sometimes God says… wait.

Patience is not my strong suit. I think of the little girl at the movie theater with her mom who asked how long it would be until the movie started. “Fifteen minutes,” answered her mom. “So how long will that take?” asked the girl. “Like, an hour?”

Yet sometimes “wait” is God’s answer to our prayers. Not “yes,” but “wait.” Psalm 130 encourages us to wait on the Lord. Verses five and six are a repetitive poem of sorts: “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.” It’s odd for a biblical passage to repeat a verse like this, but when it does it’s for a particular kind of emphasis. Even as we read the same words over again, we experience some waiting.

If you were an ancient watchman, your job was to watch over a military camp or a city. You couldn’t fall asleep or leave your post. Your job was to watch over that place until morning. Can you imagine how exhausting this would be? It’s the middle of the night, the stars are out, and your eyelids are sooo heavy. You’re alone. It’s quiet. It’s cold. Those of you on the night shift can probably picture this pretty well. Yet the watchman does not go to sleep. He watches. And soon the stars fade and the blackness becomes navy blue. And then grey. And then the first ray of light peeks up over the horizon. Morning has come.

This is a wonderful metaphor for us waiting on God because the watchman knows morning will come. Even if it feels like the night has gone on forever, the watchman knows that morning is on its way. God’s answer, like the morning, will come. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But it will come.

So sometimes God says yes. Sometimes God asks us to wait for his answer. But other times God doesn’t say “yes” or “wait.” God says no. This is often what people think of when they think of unanswered prayers. When we don’t get the answer we’re looking for, we assume God isn’t answering us. But maybe God saying no. So the question then becomes, how do we cope with prayers that are not answered as we’d hoped? What do we do with God’s no? Let’s take our lesson from the life of Jesus.

It’s Palm Sunday today. We sang hosanna this morning, as the people of Israel did when Jesus entered Jerusalem. Yet as we begin this Holy Week we must also remember that only a few days later, these hosannas turned to cries for Christ’s death. This is Palm Sunday, but it is also Passion Sunday. Today has two moods –the joyful frenzy of the triumphal entry, and the sorrowful meditation on Christ’s road to the cross. Soon after hearing joyful songs, Jesus ended up in Gethsemene. Listen to these words from Matthew:

“Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter, James, and John along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

Jesus knew the path God had set before him would end in his crucifixion, and he prayed that he would not have to go through with it. He asked to be spared…and God said no. Not because God is spiteful or violent, but because Jesus had to walk this road for us. For us, God said no to Jesus’ prayer. And though he could have run away or called down angels to protect himself, instead Jesus listened to God. Jesus obeyed his father, even when he didn’t get the answer he had hoped for.

This is, perhaps, one of the hardest lessons. Sometimes God’s answer is no. And if we seek to walk with Jesus, we must learn to obey God’s “no” just as we would his “yes.”

When my husband Daryl applied to PhD programs three years ago, he found out he had the opportunity to study in Chicago. We were living in New Jersey at the time and I had wanted to come back to the Midwest for years. I was overjoyed. If he accepted the spot, we could come back to where my family and many of my friends live. It seemed like a no-brainer, but to make sure we were on the same page with God, we agreed to pray about it separately.

As I spent time in prayer, it was soon clear to me that God’s answer was “no.” I don’t often have a crystal clear sense from God of what to do, but in this instance I did. I knew that we were not supposed to go to Chicago. When Daryl shared his sense with me about God’s answer, it was the same. “No. No Chicago.”

I was really upset. Hadn’t we given up enough for God already? We had followed him to seminary in New Jersey, lived away from friends and family, and now God wasn’t going to let us come back? Why? Sometimes God says no. No to what seems like a wonderful thing. No to a relationship. No to a request for earthly healing. No to a new opportunity. No to a desire, like Christ’s, to avoid suffering.

Now, of course, I know why God said no to Chicago. Because God would call us here. If we moved to Chicago I would have been stuck there, unable to come to minister here. God’s “no” was actually grace to us. God had our best interest at heart.

Yet there are other times when God’s no doesn’t make sense. Part of living in a messy and sinful world is living in this tension. We don’t always know why things have happened the way they have. Why God said no, instead of yes. Our job is not to know why. Our job is to walk with our Savior. When God’s word came back to Jesus – “No, I will not allow this cup to pass from you,” Jesus willingly walked to the cross. He willingly died on our behalf. So great was his obedience to his father. So great was his love for us.

When we cry out to God “out of the depths,” we find hope in our Savior Jesus Christ, who has redeemed us. As we seek to walk with him, let listen to God like Jesus did. Sometimes he will say yes, and we will rejoice. Sometimes he will say wait, and we will take a lesson from the watchmen. Sometimes he will say no, and we will seek to be obedient. As we enter Holy Week, remembering the journey of Jesus to the cross, let us learn to say to our beloved Father, as Jesus did, “Not my will, but thine.”

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

*Preached at First Presbyterian, Clinton on April 17, 2011.