Prayer is one of life’s sweetest gifts—and one of its greatest mysteries. Many of us can point to answered prayers: a door opened, a need supplied, a body healed. But sometimes we bow our heads, pour out our hearts, and nothing seems to budge. The mountain doesn’t move. The phone call doesn’t come. The ache doesn’t lift.
If you’ve felt that, you’re not alone. The Bible is honest about this experience. The psalmist asked, “How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD?” (Psalm 13:1). Habakkuk cried, “O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear!” (Habakkuk 1:2). Even Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, “Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). Scripture doesn’t hide the tension; it invites us to bring it to God.
A prime example is 2 Corinthians 12:7–10. The Apostle Paul speaks of a persistent “thorn in the flesh.” We aren’t told exactly what it was—only that it hurt. He did what believers do: he prayed. “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.” Three times he asked for relief. Heaven answered—but not as he expected. God did not remove the thorn; He gave something else: “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
