What’s the point of asking God for things when it seems as though God almost always says “No!”. I’d like a better job… “No!” I want to pay of all my debt… “No!” I’d like to go on vacation some day… “No!” Would you heal the pain in my back… “No!”

Overall, I really can’t find any consistent pattern where God really says “Yes…I’d love to”. It seems as though God is unfair and extremely picky in what he might consider being helpful with. God is like an absent parent or landlord that shows hardly any interest at all until there is an extreme emergency…and often an emergency that could have been averted had he reacted sooner. Why is this?

(extracted from common questions found online)