Why Does God Answer Prayer?

Why does God answer prayer? To make the question more practical, why does God answer specific prayers? For an individual Christian with a particular problem, is there any foundation of hope or expectation for God to answer?

The story of the children of Israel under Egyptian bondage offers some insights. The obvious prayer would be for deliverance. The answer is that God did deliver through extraordinary intervention. The question is why He delivered them.

Keeping His Promise

God delivered Israel because He had promised to do so. Being omniscient, God knew that Israel would end up in slavery to the Egyptians. He also knew that the slavery would have a time limit. Early in the story of Abraham, long before Isaac was born, God told Abraham, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. ... Then in the fourth generation they will return here" (Genesis 15:13&16). Exodus 2:24 reveals that "God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," and He set in motion His plan to deliver Israel.

When God promises something, He does not need any other reason to act. He is always faithful to do everything He has promised. When that promise is to deliver a nation of people after a certain amount of time, God will keep that promise, even when it seems humanly impossible. When God promises to meet the needs of His children, His own promise is enough to guarantee His fulfillment. God will do all that He has said He will do.

Displaying His Character

God delivered Israel because it was in keeping with His character. There are certain things that are true about God, and He cannot change or deny the attributes of His character. God does what He does because He is who He is. God is a God of love and compassion. "God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them" (Exodus 2:25). God told Moses, "I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt ... for I am aware of their sufferings" (Exodus 3:7). God's message to the people of Israel was "I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt" (Exodus 3:16). God's compassion for His people led Him to act on their behalf.

God is defined by certain qualities. In addition to being loving and compassionate, God is faithful, holy, merciful, good, gracious, and so on. Because these attributes are part of His character, there are some things that He cannot do, and there are other things that He is compelled to do. God rescued Israel because His loving heart was burdened by their bondage and oppression. Likewise, God responds to His children today because His loving heart as a father requires Him to act on their behalf. "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?" (Luke 11:13).

Responding to a Request

God delivered Israel because they cried out to Him for help. It was when their cries reached His ears that He set His plan of deliverance into action. "So God heard their groaning" (Exodus 2:24). "I ... have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters" (Exodus 3:7). "The cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me" (Exodus 3:9). Those needy and desperate cries did not fall on deaf ears; rather, they reached and impacted the One who could help them.

God often answers prayers because they are prayed. There are people in the New Testament that Jesus helped or healed (apparently) only because they asked Him for help. (Matthew 8:5-7; Matthew 9:27-29; Matthew 15:22-28; John 4:46-50). Christians sometimes fail to see an answer because they fail to ask for one. "You do not have because you do not ask" (James 4:2). Jesus told His disciples to ask so that they could receive. "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do" (John 14:13). "Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive" (John 16:24). Clearly, answers to prayer often arrive only because the prayer was made, although God has the ability to hear the prayer before it is offered (Isaiah 65:24).

So which answer is correct? Does God answer prayers because He has promised, because His character requires it, or because His children ask? Well, all of these are true. In some cases, it may be any single one of those reasons that results in the answer. In other cases, like that of the children of Israel, all of those reasons work together as part of the impetus for answering.

The first two of the three reasons are wholly dependent on God, and He may answer based only on those reasons. The third reason is dependent on man, and there are situations where God might not act unless this one is exercised. Therefore, Christians should make the effort to bring their requests to God. God may, in fact, already intend to answer, but He is waiting for the request before He sets His plan in action. Additionally, a spiritually-sensitive Christian will filter his prayers through the first two reasons, reminding God of His promises and appealing based on the character of God. Ultimately, the answer (and the reason for it) abides with God, but God freely invites His children to ask.