To you, Lord, I call;
you are my Rock,
do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent,
I will be like those who go down to the pit. Hear my cry for mercy
as I call to you for help, as I lift up my hands
toward your Most Holy Place.
—Psalm 28:1-2
Think back to the last time someone you cared about “left you on read.” What emotions did that elicit, and what did you do? Perhaps you scrolled through prior messages for context, sent a follow-up, or worse yet, questioned the relationship at a fundamental level. Regardless of the nature of our relationships, we all desire to be heard and answered.
Yet, Scripture and experience show us that God is sometimes...silent, and those long-awaited prayers remain unanswered.
On Psalm 28, Spurgeon writes “[w]hen God seems to close his ear, we must not therefore close our mouths.” While that’s true, our honest moments sometimes find us questioning our relationship with God at a fundamental level. Those unanswered prayers for physical, emotional, and spiritual healing seem to erode the idea of a prayer-hearing and prayer-answering God. After all, if God really hears me, why wouldn’t he answer me?
Psalm 28 is a cry of desperation from David to God. David calls out to God to hear him – “do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent, I will go down to the pit. Hear my cry for mercy...” (vs. 1-2). Amidst David’s desperation, however, I’m drawn to the fact that David’s response to God’s silence is more prayer. Yet David isn’t praying without basis–he keeps praying because he has experienced God in such a way that enables him to trust both the character and timing of God. And as we keep reading this Psalm, we see that God does answer.
As you wait for God to answer you, be encouraged
to follow David’s example this week–get desperate before God and press even deeper into prayer, trusting that God will answer–in His time and in His way.
Suyash Raiborde
Father, even amidst my unanswered prayers, I will keep coming to you as a child to his Father. Today, would you remind me of your heart for me? Thank you that your thoughts for me are good and you never make mistakes. As I go through my day, speak to me and help me recognize your voice. Amen.
