I think Yancey captures a challenging aspect of Jesus’ teaching on prayer. From Prayer Does It Make Any Difference.

In a nutshell the main difficulty with unanswered prayers is that Jesus seemed to promise there need not be any….

“I tell you the truth if you have faith and do not doubt … you can say to this mountain, “Go, throw yourself into the sea,” and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.…
Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven….
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours….
You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it….”

These represent just a sampling of the New Testament’s sweeping claims……  How can we reconcile the lavish promises with the actual experience of so many sincere Christians who struggle with unanswered prayer?

And that is the challenge, reconciling the promises of prayer with actual experience. What do we do when these do not line up? A simple answer would be that we must be doing something wrong in our prayer life. And that answer would satisfy if we were able to correct what we are doing wrong and then experience the more consistent answered prayer that Jesus appears to promise. But that is not how it works in most people’s actual experience. Whatever it is that is proposed as a key to effective prayer, prayers remain unanswered when that key is applied. And prayers are answered when that key is altogether absent. We often hear that prayer is not a formula.

Why does Jesus teach on prayer as if unanswered prayer is not a problem when he must know that unanswered prayer is a problem? One of the most glaring examples of this aspect of Jesus’ teaching is found in the parable of the Persistent Widow and the Unjust Judge in Luke 18. In contrasting God with the unjust judge, Jesus says “And will not God give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily.”

Speedily??? The answer to Jesus’ rhetorical question “Will he delay long over them?” is apparently “No” but the answer of many believers, and many of God’s elect in Scripture, is a big “Yes.” Does God delay long over delivering His people from Egypt? 400 years sure seems like a long delay. How long was Joseph in prison for a crime he did not commit? The scripture is not clear, but two years after he interprets the dreams of the butler and the baker. Ten years of being an outcast before David is crowned King of Israel. Numerous lament psalms cry out about delay, “How long O Lord?”

This parable is told so that people will not lose heart in prayer. There is no danger of losing heart if prayers are answered speedily. So why does Jesus declare a promise that is contrary to our actual experience and the experience of people in Scripture? I am going to leave you with that question until next week. There is no direct answer in the passage, but I believe that Jesus wants us to wrestle with this. He knows how we would balk at such a promise if we are honest about life and the witness of Scripture. If you are reading this and next week’s blog is already posted, I urge you to take a little time to wrestle with this question before reading the next post. That could be more valuable for you than my efforts to engage the question.

I would love to connect with you about these posts if they have stirred any thoughts or questions. Take a minute, shoot me an email at bo@leavenedlives.org, and let’s see where that takes us.