The electricity in my outlets had gone out, but I couldn’t find an electrician. After about a week, I got desperate, so I started praying. A day or two later, there was a knock at my door. When I opened it, I couldn’t believe my eyes: an electrician was standing in front of me, with equipment and ladder and all. He wanted me to open the door to the trash chute, but he fixed my problem as well.

Even after years of being a Christian, prayer is still an enigma. At times I pray long and hard for a serious concern, with no answer in sight. And then I briefly pray for something more superficial, like my example above, and God’s response comes barreling down at me at full speed. What’s the deal?

Frankly, there’s no way around the mystery of prayer. After all, it’s based on our relationship with God, which can never be controlled nor manipulated. What’s more, no relationship is entirely predictable. If I understood everything there is to know about prayer, that would mean that I grasped everything possible about the Lord. But how can a human mind fully comprehend the divine? I sometimes feel like I’m still in kindergarten.

The many encouragements in the Bible to pray and not give up are a clear sign that God recognizes our confusion and bewilderment on the matter. It’s okay not to have it all figured out. What the Lord desires is our perseverance.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, the Apostle Paul calls us to endurance and steadfastness in prayer. He knows what a challenge it is, which is why he lumps it together with joy and thanksgiving. Those two attributes help us keep going whenever we’re perplexed about why God doesn’t answer the way we expect. If we focus on what the Lord has done for us and all our reasons to be grateful, it’s easier to pray despite any disappointment.

So, next time we’re baffled by prayer, let’s keep praying anyway – assured that God hears us – and let’s never give up.