Unanswered Prayer

"Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart."

"Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?"

Your words leap off the page at me, O Lord; your promises overflow.

Long have I delighted in You, and long has my heart offered entreaty.

But alas, that my flesh is so frail, and that I am so quick to lose hope.

Year after year has passed, only to see the prayer unanswered,

And therefore my bed has received my numerous bitter tears,

Fully-blossomed from my weary eyes.

Hannah's womb was closed, so she wept for lack of her heart's desire,

And You opened her womb ere she fell prey to complete despair.

Even Jacob worked seven years to receive the one he loved,

But how blessed was he to know the reward at his labor's end!

Despair hovers over me like the shadow of an approaching beast,

Threatening to topple me, to cast me onto my face, to exhaust all strength.

I am weary in the depths of my soul, and it has been your grace alone

That has upheld my ever-weakening body and oft-downcast soul.

"Be joyful," they have told me.  "The Lord is all you really need."

And perhaps I would have accepted these words more readily before,

And in exuberance vocalized the heartiest of agreements

As I considered how well I stood on my own with Your hand beneath me.

But I must consider that Elkanah's words to his pained, barren wife

Were not answered in Scripture, and indeed seemed of little comfort.

For the truth is that many women feel it natural to bear children,

And the inability to do so is contrary to the natural order of things.

I observe more and more a need for help,

For You spoke unerringly when You said that it is not good for man to be alone.

I have faced a good and natural desire for many years,

And You have seen fit to provide an unnatural void as the answer.

O Lord, do not ignore my plea! Do not be blind to your servant's tears!

My strength has left me, and I long for the "rest" Matthew Henry has explained,

A person to lean on, someone with whom I can face this life

As we serve our Sovereign God--the One who ordained our union.

Into your hands I commit my petition, and I leave it there;

Pray do not leave it an unanswered prayer.