Why doesn't God help people that are suffering, or just sad when they pray to Him?

Answer 1

Sometimes when bad things happen to good people God will not help them because........Think of this (if your a believer) What happens when bad things happen? Like a child ill with cancer, Airplanes going into the trade center, War, natural disaster, etc. People start to pray even if they are not devoted Christians. By them praying to God their faith begins to strengthen and they become closer to God. Without bad things happening I believe a lot of people would be lost and not saved. If it takes 1 child to die (and go to Heaven) to save just one person from going to Hell I believe God prevails and his purpose becomes more clear. God does not like to see bad things happen but in the long run more people will be with him in paradise.

Answer 2

That is a good question, and I'm sure many people have asked themselves that same question. The bible does provide the answer. The whole reason the suffering started was because Adam and Eve sinned because the Devil made them think that they would be better off on their own, that the could decide for themselves what was right and wrong, that God didn't have the right to rule over them. So the only way that God could prove to the Devil and to all the angels that were watching that he did have the right to rule, was to allow for time to pass, for mankind to try and make it on their own, cure diseases, rule nations, experiment with alternative lifestyles, but as you have said.....mankind is suffering. The governments are corrupt, even if there is a good leader, he eventually dies or his run in office ends, or there is too much beuracratic red tape to get anything done. The drug companies are corrupt, they do a measure of good mostly to those who have the money to pay for it, but still people get sick grow old and die.Technology has advanced and brought us many comforts, but nothing that brings true satisfaction. Families are falling apart, countries are at war, the environment is being destoyed, people are dying unjustly, man is suffering. So it is obvious that mankind cannot guide mankind. We need God. The bible says that when all of these terrible things would happen, that this period of time would be the last days before God would make things right. Those who know what is right but who do what is wrong and hurtful would be done away with, and those who are good in God's eyes would be able to enjoy the earth as he meant it to be for Adam and Eve and all their offspring, in perfect health, in peace, in happiness. He is a God of justice, and he will without fail make things right. Next time a Jehovah's Witness comes to your door, than they can show you the scriptural back up or answer any other question you have.

Answer 3

Well, sometimes such prayers help and sometimes they don't. It has more to do with the comfort it can give you to pray than anything about the entity to whom you pray.

My Methodist Sunday school teacher mother used to try to get me to pray about something when I felt bad. But I realized that the prayer was inside my head, or at least the personal types were (I never got into vocalizing for fear of ridicule from my sister, with whom I shared a bedroom until I was 12). So the only entity who could hear would have to be inside my head, or at least have access to my thoughts. Therefore, he/she/it/they would already know what I wanted and needed, and why should I do something my mother called prayer?

Since that time, I have learned meditation and contemplation and come to recognize the value of the focus which Christians call prayer. But I lost my Christianity in the meantime, so I can't say that I "pray" in the sense you mean at all anymore.

Answer 4

Jessica, Jessica - He does. Do you not like the answers? Does the thought come to you that you should stop doing one thing or another? Does the thought come to you that you should quit focusing so intently on yourself and started focusing on what you could be doing for someone else? Do you reject these thoughts - they are your answers, just not the ones you want. Praying for God to do all the work for you is treating God like Santa Claus - you want a present with no responsibility on your part. I don't really think it works that way - at least not in my experience.

Maturity bring wisdom and the knowledge that we bear some responsibility for our lives, our attitudes, our situations - and when God opens doors for us we need to walk through them. No doing so makes it seem that God hasn't answered - when, in reality, we have rejected His help.

Try again - and be open to immediate possibilities.

God Bless!

Answer 5

For me and my beliefs, God gave us free will. That means he doesn't interfere with our lives. He gave us the Earth and the ability to create our own destiny. If a child is ill with cancer (and forgive my disagreement with another answerer here) the child, in my opinion, isn't ill to help save others. What kind of loving God would do or need to do such a thing? The child has cancer because of the environment he or she lives in. The food they eat has pesticides that we, as a society, put in our food. The water the child drinks contains chemicals known to cause cancer, the household may have someone who smokes or uses harsh cleaners or chemicals to kill bugs. The school the child goes to may be near electrical lines or be on a landfill.

This is the responsibility of free will. To be truly free, we have to be fully responsible. We decide how we live and treat our bodies. We decide what we put in our environment through our actions or our inactions.

If you are suffering or sad, do something about it. Not to be harsh, because I struggle myself with fibromyalgia and the grief of losing my mother this year. Did God give me fibromyalgia? No, my environment, food choices, or something in my living triggered the disease. Not God. Did God take my mother from me to strengthen my faith? No, I'm Pagan, and my mother's death was the cycle of life affirming itself. God didn't take my mom, she's with the creator now. She has "gone home," back to the source, crossed into the Summerland, gone to heaven. Whatever you view as an afterlife. I miss her every day with an ache in my heart that takes my breath away sometimes. But I don't allow it, by a conscious choice every day, to take away my ability to feel joy or wonder. I find comfort in the creations of the Divine. Because I see the signs that the creator sends me, I can feel the presences of those I love who have left this life. The guidance I get from the Creator and my loved ones, helps me through. But I must choose to be open to the sometimes subtle signs they send. Again, because I have free will, I can choose to take the advice they send or not. They will never stop helping me. I am the one who stops listening from time to time when I let things overwhelm me.

To be truly a person of free will means I have a right to be happy, but not that it is just handed to me. Happiness can take a lot of work sometimes. :) I just choose to do the work. :)

Good journeys, and may your life be filled with the wonder of the Divine.

Answer 6

God listens honey. He just answers in his own time. When you are a Christian, you suffer and are persecuted. This is because Christ was persecuted. Just think about what lies at the end of the road when you follow God. Heaven is worth any trials here on earth :)

Answer 7

God always answers prayer, just not always the way we expect Him to.

The easy answer is that He answers typically with one of 3 answers Yes, No or wait. But there is more to it than that. Such as sometimes He wants us to be the one to solve this one ourselves and He is providing the tools for us to do so. Or, He may be waiting for you to do something first.

Keep praying, sometimes He is just teaching you to be persistent in prayer.

Also, in answer to the lovely sister below me here, my own experience has taught me that 90% of my personal suffering has been my own fault (being insensitive to others or making poor decisions) not suffering for the Lord.

Answer 8

Its a matter of perspective. Reminds me of a joke of sorts:

It is flooding. A man steps out of his house, ankle deep in water. A pick-up truck passes by and the occupants offer him a ride to safety. The man says "No thanks, God will save me." The flooding continues and the man is now waist deep. A boat passes by, the man is offered a ride to safety but he declines it once more. "No thanks, God will save me." The flood still rages on, the man is now trapped on the roof of his house. A helicopter flies overhead and a rope ladder is dropped down to him. "No thanks, God will save me." The man, now running out of dry area on his roof looks to the sky and exclaims "God, Why?! Why have you not saved me?!?!"

To which God replies "What? I sent you a truck, a boat, AND a helicopter!!!"

You can pray to God about being sad and lonely all you want, but if you never take steps to facilitate His help, you're just wasting your time, and God's time.

Answer 9

It's meant to be that way. Fated to happen, if you will. Everything that happens in this world - good or bad, is for a reason.

Answer 10

Because is like asking santa claus for presents, neither one exist.