Praying Earnestly

It seems to me that some people think that if you pray earnestly enough your prayers will be answered in the way that you desire.

I beg to differ.

I could tell you stories of prayers that I earnestly prayed for, but, you might argue, I might not have been earnest enough. I was an earnest as I knew how to be, but for some reason, God did not see fit to have my prayer answered in the way that I desired.

Since one could argue that I have not been earnest enough in my own praying, I turn to Scripture.

Matthew 26:39 says that Jesus prayed "Let this cup pass." Here he is talking about not wanting to die on a cross. If anyone could pray earnestly, I'm sure that Jesus could, and Jesus did not want to go through such an agonizing death. Earnestly, he prayed that this would not be what had to happen. God said no.

If Jesus can pray earnestly for something and the Father can say no to him, then why should I question God when I pray earnestly? Who am I? Was I there when he created the world? No. I am just a man. I do not know better than my Heavenly Father. And praise be to him that he knows what is best for me because some of my earnestly prayed for prayers were not in my best interest.