Obviously the question, “Why didn’t God answer my prayer?” is one that virtually every Christian has asked at some point. We may not always be able to answer that question, but God’s Word gives us a framework for understanding certain vital truths that will help us maintain our faith/trust in Him. Perhaps the main takeaway point of this teaching is that we never abandon what we understand from the Word in the face of what we do not understand experientially.
Someone recently sent me an interview by a radio host with a very upbeat woman in her mid/late 30s who is, by all reports, dying of “incurable” colon cancer. She teaches at Duke Divinity School, and has a young son whom she can’t bear to leave. She is doing immunotherapy in order to prolong her life a little more each time. She wrote a book titled Everything Happens for a Reason, and Other Lies I’ve Loved. That’s an inviting title, and a rare one. Then she mentioned other lies people have said to her during her illness: God is writing a better story; Heaven is your true home; God needs another angel. Unfortunately, she substitutes other non-biblical ideas in their place.
