Prayer is difficult! It requires faithful persistence (Luke 18:1-8). We may pray for something for years and God never grant the prayer as we desire. This causes us to question God, our own righteousness, and the purpose of prayer.
In the opening of Luke’s gospel he tells about an older couple named Zechariah and Elizabeth. Zechariah was a priest of God. They are described as being “righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statues of the Lord” (Luke 1:6). What a description! This is a description that all Christians would want in application to themselves. They were not living a sinful life! They were not doing anything wrong to cause their prayers not to be answered in the affirmative.
Yet, the next verse says “they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren” (Luke 1:7). Zechariah will be offering incense in the temple when the angel Gabriel will inform him, “your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John” (Luke 1:13). God had heard his prayers.
God had heard all along. They were “advanced in years,” so they endured years of praying without getting what they desired (Luke 1:7). They even suffered a social stigmatism or “reproach among people” because they had no child (Luke 1:25), but it wasn’t because of their sinfulness.
Certainly, sin can keep us from receiving the blessings of God and hinder our prayers. We ought to seek to rid sin from our lives everyday, but faithful Christians should also realize that God not answering your prayers according to your desires, doesn’t mean you are sinning. Zechariah and Elizabeth were barren and suffered for years wanting a child, but it was not because of their sin that God withheld that blessing. He withheld because of his divine plan and will. Ultimately that is the challenge and goal of all of our prayers–to surrender to the will of God and seek His will, not ours (Luke 22:42).
