I am sure that every one of us has asked the question as to why God has not answered some of our prayers in the way we wanted. He encourages us to pray about all of our needs and then some of them are not met. How can we understand why that occurs? Paul gives us some clues as to the answer to that question. He had been granted amazing revelations of heaven and he saw inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell as he says in 2 Corinthians 12. Then he shares this very personal issue in his own life.

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

We don’t know what Paul’s thorn was but it had to be important because he pleaded with God three times to take it away. Many believe that the thorn was a physical issue such as poor eyesight. But God didn’t answer his prayer the way he wanted. This ought to make us feel better because it also happens to us. Sometimes people say to us, “you don’t have enough faith.” But no one can accuse Paul of not being a man of faith, so that is not the right answer. 

You see, God had a greater plan for Paul. He could have removed Paul’s thorn with a snap of his fingers. He didn’t. Instead, God desired that Paul learn the lesson that His grace was sufficient for Paul because His power is made perfect in weakness. Paul learned that the weaker he was the more he had to rely on God rather than on himself, and in those times the power of God rested in a big way on him.

In fact, the lesson was so significant that Paul says, “I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak then I am strong.” Paul would not have learned this lesson without the thorn that he suffered. 

Remember two things when God does not answer your specific prayers. First, God has something better for you that you would not experience or learn if he simply answered your prayer. Second, given that, ask Him what it is that He wants you to learn or experience by not answering. I don’t know how Paul understood what God wanted to teach him but God is great at giving us clues as to what He wants to do in and through us if we will ask and then pay attention. His ways are above our ways and His plans for our lives greater than our plans for our lives.

As you think about those prayers that God has not answered in your life, start to ask another question: What do you want me to learn through this? It changes our attitude from one of disappointment that our requests have not been answered to one of adventure as to what God wants to do in our life because God’s purposes are always the best for us. 

Father, I am encouraged to know that when you don’t answer one of my prayers that you actually have higher purposes in mind and lessons that we would not learn in any other way. Help me to see where you want to work in my life and thank you for doing so even if my specific request is not answered. Amen.