{"id":49198,"date":"2025-03-16T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-16T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/?p=49198"},"modified":"2025-10-16T05:43:57","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T12:43:57","slug":"what-happens-unanswered-prayers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/what-happens-unanswered-prayers\/","title":{"rendered":"What Happens to Our Unanswered Prayers?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Does a Creator actually act in the world of creation? If so, when you pray sincerely for something to happen, why doesn\u2019t it always occur? What happens to our unanswered prayers?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those who believe in the Bible, the answer might seem obvious: of course God acts in the world of creation.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Why I Believe in the Healing Power of Prayer<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How else could you explain the parting of the Red Sea in the Old Testament or the healing miracles of Jesus in the New Testament? These comprise the fundamental elements of Biblical narrative and Judeo-Christian belief. It is difficult to imagine a theology based on Biblical events that does not embrace God as actively involved in the world of His creation, answering prayers and performing miracles.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, this belief in the fundamental reality of a Creator who answers prayers and performs miracles seems to be systematically fading away and steadily eroding. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Does Praying for Healing Miracles Work?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I, for one, have almost become numb to the devastation from earthquakes, civil wars and natural disasters which claim thousands of lives daily around the world. Thank you, CNN for bringing the horrific details directly into my living room \u2014 24 hours a day, non-stop. Due to the sheer magnitude and frequency of those disasters, many people ask the question “How could God do that to those people?\u201d or \u201cHow could He just let that happen?” or \u201cWhy doesn\u2019t God answer their prayers?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marcus Borg, a well-known Christian theologian, wrote:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The reality of unanswered prayers is a huge problem. Think of all the people who prayed for deliverance from the Holocaust, all the people who prayed for peace and safety in the midst of war, all the people who prayed for healing\u2014and whose prayers were not answered. And thus many modern mainline Christians have problems with \u2026 prayer.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

One common conclusion by otherwise God-fearing religious people is that God has given us free will and does not interfere with the day-to-day stuff here on Earth. This concept, sometimes called \u201cprocess theology,\u201d posits that once He had finished the heavy lifting of creation, God rested on the seventh day and never bothered to show up for work again. Now, the explanation goes, creation just kind of runs itself through the laws of nature\u2014 and God, hands off, becomes an absentee landlord, a disinterested spectator or an aloof, uncaring deity.  <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Baha\u2019i view differs drastically. The Baha\u2019i Faith<\/a> teaches that God does indeed actively participate in the world of creation \u2014 that God\u2019s will moves everything, but not everything that happens is God\u2019s will. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Why Does God Allow Illness and Suffering?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Baha\u2019i teachings say that God not only answers the sincere prayers of those who believe in Him, but that He answers the prayers of all His creatures. In a talk in 1912, Abdu\u2019l\u2011Baha<\/a><\/span>, one of the central figures of the Baha\u2019i Faith, said<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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God will answer the prayer of every servant if that prayer is urgent. His mercy is vast, illimitable. He answers the prayers of all His servants \u2026 God is merciful. In His mercy He answers the prayers of all His servants when according to His supreme wisdom it is necessary. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

How can it be possible for God to answer the prayers of \u201cevery servant\u201d? Surely, countless prayers seemingly go unanswered \u2014 if we judge from the death and destruction caused by wars and natural disasters. So maybe God answers some prayers, but clearly doesn\u2019t answer others.  <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which raises a very important question: Why would a just, loving God answer some prayers and seemingly ignore others?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baha\u2019u\u2019llah<\/a>, the prophet and founder of the Baha\u2019i Faith, wrote<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2026 the decrees of the Sovereign Ordainer, as related to fate and predestination, are of two kinds. Both are to be obeyed and accepted. The one is irrevocable, the other is, as termed by men, impending. To the former all must unreservedly submit, inasmuch as it is fixed and settled. God, however, is able to alter or repeal it. As the harm that must result from such a change will be greater than if the decree had remained unaltered, all, therefore, should willingly acquiesce in what God hath willed and confidently abide by the same.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decree that is impending, however, is such that prayer and entreaty can succeed in averting it. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Baha\u2019i teachings say that God can and does alter events within His creation. Some events, however, must just be accepted. Like the law of gravity, they should be considered irrevocable, as the harm that would result from changing them would be greater than to let them unfold as the Creator intends. For these irrevocable events and immutable laws, the Baha\u2019i teachings \u2014 and the teachings of all Faiths \u2014 instruct us to willingly acquiesce and trust in God\u2019s wisdom. Abdu\u2019l-Baha<\/a><\/span> wrote<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Never lose thy trust in God. Be thou ever hopeful, for the bounties of God never cease to flow upon man. If viewed from one perspective they seem to decrease, but from another they are full and complete. Man is under all conditions immersed in a sea of God\u2019s blessings. Therefore, be thou not hopeless under any circumstances, but rather be firm in thy hope. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Does a Creator actually act in the world of creation? If so, when you pray sincerely for something to happen, why doesn\u2019t it always occur? What happens to our unanswered…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44570,"featured_media":87248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[2998,3146],"series":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49198"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44570"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49198"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88292,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49198\/revisions\/88292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49198"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=49198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}