Few people know the desperate agony of unanswered prayer as much as Sittser, whose mother, wife and young daughter died when a drunk driver hit their car. (He and three other children survived.) "Why doesn't God answer our prayers?... It is no longer an abstract question to me," he writes. To find an answer, he turns the question inside out and upside down: When our prayers go unanswered, does it mean we don't have enough faith, or have prayed the wrong way? What would happen if God answered all our prayers?
Prayer seems to work sometimes, "which only makes the problem of unanswered prayer more bewildering." Sittser acknowledges that some answered prayers would be bad for us we might use the power of prayer for wealth, success and domination at the expense of others
In the end, he writes that unanswered prayer challenges us to explore the deepest places within us and to ask ourselves searching questions. "Perhaps how we respond in the face of such mystery is more important than whether or not we will ever find an answer to the question itself," he muses. Although the study questions at the end of each chapter can be distracting, any Christian who has ever questioned the validity of prayer will find this to be a luminous book, full of vulnerable and venerable wisdom.
Description From Publishers Weekly - Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
This book isn't filled with quick and easy answers to why God doesn't answer our prayers. But rather the author tries to encourage the reader down a path that he himself has traveled before and still walks. Jerry Sittser uses both Scripture and his personal experience to reflect upon the difficult times in life when God seems distant and when prayers go unanswered. This book was very encouraging for me for I am currently going through a difficult time in life. Did it solve all my problems? No...rather it was an encouraging testimony to what it is to learn from life and moments like these. J Williams
This book, like Jerry's others, is an honest, Scripture-based look at the questions that many Christians have regarding our requests and God's answers. Scripture demonstrates to us on more than one occasion that there are times when God chooses to say "no" to that which we ask. He loves us fully and He knows what is best for us and what is in alignment with His will. Jerry Sittser helps us recognize that prayer is about strengthening our relationship with God. I highly recommend this book! J. Wasson
By: Jerry Sittser
Zondervan, 216 pages, paperback
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