Prayers Unanswered

2 Cor 12:7-10

There's something haunting about the idea of St. Paul praying for relief and receiving none.

I know there's a reason he found.  I know that's not all there is to the story.

But the prophet Ezekiel is told to go to the Israelites without being told how they'll react -- in fact, told not to worry about rejection or acceptance.

Jesus goes to his hometown and doesn't receive the welcome he would expect.

Even prophets have their prayers denied.

God goes silent even to the saints.

I think it's easy to take it personally when God goes silent in your life.  I think it's one of the hardest challenges to faith.

But the point of following His ways is not to have the earthly reward of a hometown welcome or being thanked by those we convince to repent.  The point of our relationship with God is not making our hardships easier.

It's having our hardships with God by our side.  Not removing obstacles from our path but with us, silent and letting us find our way and thus our strength.  So that they will know a prophet has been among them.  Even if we don't get to see the pretty results.

It's doing God's will even when we don't get to see the pretty, shiny results.  When things end badly from a worldly perspective and you have to hope that someday you understand why this was necessary.  It's having faith even in those moments that it WAS necessary.