The Tow Truck and the Cross: Lessons on Unanswered Prayer

Kim Hardy
Jul 12
5 min read

Did you know some tow trucks have lifts shaped like a cross? No, I did not need a tow truck, thank God, but I was driving behind one on my way home from running some errands and the cross grabbed my attention.

I started thinking about how neat it was that a tow truck would have a cross on it. I am not a car guru, so I came home and looked up why the lift was shaped that way. As it turned out, the cross shape helps evenly distribute the weight of the car being towed.

It was a simple, logical answer to my question, but got me thinking about how the tow truck and its cross-shaped lift reminded me of Jesus and the cross. A tow truck comes to our rescue when we are stuck on the side of the road, in a wreck, or our car won’t start. We may not know the driver, but we trust that person to get our vehicle unstuck, pull it out of the wreckage, and take it to the right place to be repaired. Just like Jesus comes to us when we get stuck, when we feel like we have wrecked our lives, or when we can’t seem to get started doing what we know we should, like praying.

Have you ever felt stuck like Chuck in your prayer life?

I have, and it can be frustrating, especially when it seems like God isn’t hearing our requests. I felt hopeless. It is hard to keep a consistent prayer life when it feels like our prayers aren’t being answered.

Why keep crying out to a God who doesn’t seem to hear us?

The truth is, He does hear us. There could be several reasons behind what feels like an unanswered prayer, whether it's the way, or the time, we expect.

Same Old Prayer

One reason our prayers may feel like they are unanswered is we get bored, so we stop praying. There were many times when I have prayed the same prayer over and over again. I would get bored and stop praying.

In his book, Praying the Bible, Donald Whitney writes, “Therefore, the problem is not that we pray about the same old things; rather, it’s that we say the same old things about the same old things.”

What is the answer to the problem? We need scripture to help us.

Check Your Motives

This may be a tough pill to swallow, but another reason it may seem like God is not listening is our motives may not be pure. We could be praying for selfish reasons instead of asking God what He wants for our situation.

There have been many times I prayed for God to do things in my life without me considering how they would affect others. We are to be considerate of others. I am not saying we should not pray for the things we want, but we want to ask God what He desires for us. He does want us to have what we desire, but He knows what is best. As followers of Jesus, our desires ought to serve Him, and in whatever we do bring Him glory.

This doesn’t mean if we desire to be millionaires and own the nicest vehicle, God will give us those desires. The prosperity teaching that seems to be prominent in our culture today is wrong. Nowhere does the Bible say once we become followers of Jesus, life will be easy or He will bless us with everything we want when we do all the “right” Christian things, like attending church, tithing, and giving to the poor. While all of these are good practices, it doesn’t mean life will be easy or that we will have everything we want.

Since we are of the flesh, we are double-minded. We say we follow Christ, yet we chase after the things of this world. In the book of James, the brother of Jesus addresses fellow followers of Christ to warn them about praying with the wrong motives. (James 4:3)

The Bible clearly states we will have trouble in this world. (John 16:33) Even so, God promises to meet our needs. I am not saying that He won’t bless us with our wants from time to time because He will. We are the apple of His eye, and He delights in giving us good things.

Like children, when we don’t get what we want, or we find ourselves walking through a difficult season we tend to pout. This is when we can clearly see that our motives may be just smidge off. When we pray with humility, and a heart to serve others, we are more likely to receive our desires.

King Solomon is a good example of this. God told Solomon to ask for whatever he wanted. Solomon asked God for wisdom and knowledge to rule the kingdom well. God blessed Solomon with both, and as a result, Solomon became prosperous.

Are We Being Sincere

Solomon’s story reminds us that motives and sincerity often go hand in hand. When we are sincere with God, our prayers are more likely to be answered. Since God knows our hearts, He knows when our prayers are selfish.

We can look at David as an example. In 1 Samuel 29 and 30, we read that David chose to go to battle with the Philistines against Saul and the Israelites. All but one of the commanders of the Philistine army disliked that David was joining them in war. They feared he would turn against them.

Even though the one commander who trusted David disagreed with the others, he still agreed to send David and his men back home. Once they arrived in Ziklag, they discovered the Amalekites had raided and burned the city and taken their wives and children captive.

The men who were with David were so angry they wanted to stone him. Realizing the anguish he had caused, David turned to God in prayer. God heard David’s prayer and gave him permission to attack the Amalekites and recover the women and children. They went after them and were able to recover everything that belonged to them.

One reason God chose to answer David’s prayer was he had a sincere heart. David messed up, yet God chose to still use him.

He will do the same for us. When we pray with sincere hearts, it shows God we trust Him and we are putting others before ourselves.

Final Encouragement

When we feel stuck in our prayer life, it is important to self-reflect. God is not out to harm us. He simply wants a relationship with us, one where we trust Him and allow Him to help us out of the mess we make of our lives.

Let Jesus take the wheel, and watch how He works, even in the smallest details of your life.