I had lunch today with a friend who is out of work – lost his job earlier this year and has been looking for several months. So far, no leads. He has been praying and asking God to open doors and to guide him to the right place. No answers.

As we met, he had lots of questions – actually it was one question posed in different ways. Why doesn’t God answer my prayers? Why doesn’t He give me a job? Why, if I keep asking does there seem to be no result? I don’t have answers.

Disciples through the centuries have had questions about God.

Mary and Joseph wondered why Jesus had stayed in the temple instead of going home with them.

Pharisees wondered why Jesus and his disciples ate with tax collectors and sinners.

When Jesus healed on the Sabbath, religious leaders wanted to know why He would break the Sabbath in this way.

The disciples wanted to know why Jesus was talking to a Samaritan woman.

The disciples wanted to know why certain demons did not leave at their command.

There will always be questions about God – questions I cannot answer. But then, if I could answer all questions about God, would I, in fact become God and He something less. I search His word and I pray to know Him better and realize the more I know, the more there is to know – the more I understand the more there is to understand.

So why pray? In part because I have no other options. I come to Him asking, seeking knocking, trusting that He will hear, understand and grant my petitions. On the other hand there is a great line in the movie “Shadowlands” – the story of C.S. Lewis. Someone makes a comment to him about his praying for his dying wife. C.S. Lewis tells his friend that his praying “does not change God, it changes me.”

There is that important aspect of prayer that is not about an object or the solution to a problem. It is about a person and about coming into closer communion with Him. It is in this communion that we find answers – not for jobs, or bigger income but to the deepest longings of the heart.