Why doesn’t God answer unambiguous prayers?

Question

I’ve noticed that the only prayers that God seems to answer are in ambiguous situations, like curing cancer. How can one know if it’s God or coincidence? It seems to me that whenever the situation is unambiguous, God ignores the prayers—such as trying to have God regenerate an amputees limb, or lift a car 10 feet of the ground when an innocent person is trapped underneath it. I’ve heard it suggested that God wont answer unambiguous prayers because it would be too obvious and rob us of our free will, but aren’t most of God’s actions in the Bible obvious (prating the sea, sending his son to earth and performing dozens of miracles, raising the dead, etc.)?

Answer 1

As I understand the Scripture, the only kind of prayer God answers are unambiguous prayers.
Nevertheless, there are some ground rules:
1) Are you in covenant relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ, or are you still a rebel?
"The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked,
but the prayer of the upright pleases him."
Proverbs 15:8
2) Are you in faith when you ask?
"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does."
James 1:5-8

3) Are you living in love and forgiveness?
"For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." (Matthew 5:14-15)
"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us." (I John 3:18-23)

So you see, the Bible has a few things to say about the subject. Stick with the Word of God and forget about theories on the subject of prayer.

Answer 2

A very good question.

I tend to believe that if faith is strong enough a person could obtain an obvious miracle. But I feel that real faith does not exist in men.

Nevertheless, you can't prove that any prayer has come true because anything you ask for can be coincidence. I think you are close to the issue by saying that unambiguous miracles are too much proof and borders on asking God to perform a proof miracle, which he says not to do.

Generally Christ told a woman that touched his hem and was healed, that he had not done the miracle, that the miracle was done by her faith. So, I lean toward the lack of faith issue in my reasoning.

But I commend you for asking such a great question. I do not think there is any definitive answer.

Answer 3

I have to be very honest with you about how I look at prayer. This is my answer.

The bible tells me to bring everything, every concern, before the Lord, and so I do. Sometimes I get answers, sometimes I do not. I might muse over why some prayer of mine hasn't been answered, but I never muse for very long. Why? Because I have studied the character of God through His word. I believe Him to be perfect in all His ways. I know He loves me, I know He has a good plan for me, and I know His ways are higher than my ways.

Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that I will never second guess God, ever. What I do is seek Him, pray to Him, trust Him, and allow whatever comes my way to grow me in my Christian walk. And that includes the prayers that are "not" answered, as well as the ones that are.

Answer 4

We have the accounts in the bible to show that God is capable of doing these things. (2 Timothy 3:16,17). It's a matter of whether or not we have faith in them and take them to heart.

God does not have to prove himself any more than what he already has - which is through his wonderful creations, sacrificing his son, and leaving us his word the Bible.

When you pray to God, he hears you. He answers those prayers that are in line with his purpose. Not just to make you believe when he's left enough information for you to do that.

Answer 5

Those things happened to prove who Jesus was to his disciples.
God answers all prayers but allot of the time the answer is no.