Why Doesn't God Answer Me?

I said, “Listen, you leaders of Israel! You are supposed to know right from wrong, but you are the very ones who hate good and love evil. You skin my people alive and tear the flesh from their bones. Yes, you eat my people’s flesh, strip off their skin, and break their bones. You chop them up like meat for the cooking pot. Then you beg the LORD for help in times of trouble! Do you really expect him to answer? After all the evil you have done, he won’t even look at you!” [Micah 3.1-4]

"Why doesn't God answer me?"

I won't answer that question definitively, but I can suggest some possibilities based on why God refused to answer people in the Bible. 

According to Micah 3.1-4, it would appear God refused to answer people's prayers because their treatment of others was so bad it was compared to skinning them alive and butchering them to be devoured. Simply put, people had no regard for humanity.

How we treat one another as humans matters to God. Every human belongs to God (whether they acknowledge it or not) and how we treat them is how we treat God.

Is it any wonder then, that Jesus taught us to seek first the Kingdom of God (because the Kingdom of God is about people) or to do unto others as we would have them do unto us?

There is "balance" however to how we are to treat people because God Himself demonstrated that He defends justice and that sometimes puts others on the wrong side of His defense. Just because He desires that all humanity loves Him as He loves them does not mean He will not defend His cause (and all who adhere to it) against those in opposition to His cause (and all who adhere to it)! God specifies "...my people..." above as those He defends.

So, how we treat people matters. But, there is a hierarchy to this whole thing! When it comes to those who are God's and those who are not, we are to take God's side in defending His own. Period. Some people make stupid alliances that put them in opposition to what is good and right. The outcome they suffer when opposing God and His people is, in fact, their own choice.

But, back to the point of the scripture above! Unanswered prayers should be examined through the magnifying glass of Micah 3.1-4 (among other scriptures too). God's people have enough trouble just treating each other right and that is why God speaks to that end (...my people...). 

Within the family of God, people are cruel and intolerant of one another - if you don't believe it, just pay attention to some of the bantering across denominations and observe the division so glaringly apparent between them. And then they wonder why God doesn't answer their prayers.

But it gets worse...

Instead of us admitting our wrongdoing toward one another as the reason we are powerless in prayer, we have adopted theology and doctrines that make "our troubles" out to be some disguised "blessing from God" instead of just recompense for our cruelty towards God's people.

So, why doesn't God answer our prayers? It could very possibly be because of the way we treat His people. And that should give us something to think about!

Father, I have much to learn (and obey). Help me to start off by treating Your people with the love and care for them that You would give them.