That's your answer?

I was talking with a student the other day and she had said something like this,"Well everyone prayed, I guess it wasn't in God's plan". And that made me think a little (I know, I actually think, there I said it before you did) about is that really the right response. I mean we all know that God doesn't always answer our prayers or at least the way we want them answered, but is it because it wasn't God's plan?
I am going to have to say, I am not sure that is a acurate statement. Isaiah tells a little different story. Some of us know this but let me just think this through. Sometimes we don't get answers becaise there are other factors that are involved. I am only going to talk about two of them but yes there are more than this.
1. If there is sin in our lives, God will not answer, Isaiah 59:1-2 says in the (NLT) "Listen! The LORD's arm is not too weak to save you nor is His ear too deaf to hear you call. It's your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, He has turned away and will not listen anymore. Maybe it is God's plan but sin and not so much the sin of the person who did not get the prayer answered but others. (to make sure to keep this person's identity a secret I will not be able to elaborate any further). The others could be a family memeber or a spouse, etc.. This bothers me when i hear that it "wasn't God's plan" because we do not know all the factors.
2. And that leads me into the second factor, who are we to know what God's plan is, we have an idea and you might have a calling but how it all turns out, really is up to God. Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT) says "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts" says the Lord. "And My ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts".
In closing, all I want you to do is look back at these two points and wonder am I and everyone that might be involved on the right track. We know that God will get us to the point that He wants us we may just be taking detours because we are relying on ourselves and not God.