Have you ever prayed for something and felt like ignored by God?

You cry out to Him and don’t hear an answer.

It can leave you feeling disappointed and hurt.

Let’s dive into the story of 3 friends of Jesus who felt the same way.

1. When You Don’t Hear from Jesus

The story of the raising of Lazarus is found in John 11. Lazarus was very sick.

Mary and Martha, his sisters, sent a message to Jesus. Jesus didn’t come right away.

After a few days, Jesus tells the disciples,  “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.”

Lazarus was the primary breadwinner for his sisters. His death created a dire situation for them.

However, they still had faith in Jesus. When He finally arrived, they said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”

They had sent a message to Jesus, and there’s no record that he responded.

They were disappointed because they knew that if Jesus had responded to their plea and came when they called him, then Lazarus wouldn’t have died.

Our disappointment comes when we have unmet expectations of what God should do and when we think He should do it.

2. Unmet Expectations

We feel ignored by God when we have unmet expectations about what He should do and how and when He should do it.

We put God in a box when we form expectations. Then when our expectations aren’t met, we enter disappointment.

We think it is an attack on our faith because God didn’t act the way you thought He should, He didn’t perform the way you thought He should.

We begin to think, how could He do this?

3. God is good and He does good

The favorite thing for the enemy to attack is God’s character.

In the Garden of Eden, Satan attacked God’s character by having Eve question if God is good or not, and if He loved them or not.

When you expected your life to go a certain way when you expected God to heal in a certain way or when we expect Him to counteract a problem, you are putting limits on your faith and put Jesus in a box.

Take those expectations away and remember that God is always good, and He does good.

God is good and does good always.

There was a reason that Jesus waited to respond and to come to raise Lazarus from the dead. Jesus used the opportunity to show that He is the resurrection and the life.

4. “I am the resurrection and the life” – Jesus is revealing who He is

Jesus is your life.

Your life is not your money, not your social life, not your family, not your health, not your free time.

There is a limit to your faith because God didn’t act the way you thought He should act. You have to step out in faith to break the barriers that are around the Lord.

Jesus could have rolled the stone away himself.

Instead, He asked the people to move it away. Everyone standing around looked to the sisters. There were a lot of rituals that went along with death and touching a corpse.

They had to have faith in order to receive the miracle.

The sisters gave the order to roll the stone away, showing their faith in Jesus.

If you feel ignored by God, like He hasn’t heard you or listened to you. Step out in faith that you feel is being attacked.

The area that you’ve kept from God is the exact area that He wants from you. Step out in faith and to receive what God has for you. He wants to be your life.

When stepping out in faith, we are taking those expectations off and saying to God to do whatever He wants. It may not be what you think or the way you want it to be.

But by stepping out in faith and taking off the expectations you are saying to God, I will follow you, and I will walk with you.

Related: When You Feel Unappreciated