I wait for you, O LORD; you will answer, O Lord my God.
Psalm 38:15
In a conversational relationship with God, God may not give us what we ask for, but he always responds in some way. We commonly say a prayer was answered only when we are granted our requests. When a request is denied, does this mean that God has not responded?
Some people say that God’s answer is silence in these cases, but if we know how to listen, God will normally tell us something when he does not grant our requests. We will hear it and grow through it if we have learned to recognize his voice.
When Paul begged the Lord to remove his “thorn in the flesh,” God did turn down the request, but God was not silent: “But his answer was: ‘My grace is all you need; power is most fully seen in weakness’” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NEB, emphasis added). God is not impassive, like an unresponsive pagan idol; he calls us to grow into a life of personal interchange with him that does justice to the idea of our being his children.
Willard, D. Hearing God Through the Year.