Why We Still Pray for Protection Even When Suffering Strikes

It’s a question that haunts the heart of anyone who’s walked through deep loss. If God didn’t protect me then, why should I ask Him to now?

For Belinda, the question isn’t hypothetical. It’s real, raw, and painful. After losing her nearly five-year-old daughter in a tragic drowning accident and later experiencing an armed robbery and watching her elderly parents be scammed she finds herself still praying for God’s protection. But in her own words, it now feels “utterly pointless.”

She’s not alone.

Countless believers, after facing heartache and unanswered prayers, wrestle with this tension. We say God is our protector our refuge and strength but what do we do when the protection didn’t come? What does prayer mean when pain keeps knocking on the door?

Here’s what Scripture, and centuries of faith, offer in response.

What Protection Really Means

When we ask God for protection, we often imagine divine forcefields no accidents, no break-ins, no cancer diagnoses. But that’s not how Scripture frames protection.

1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us, “No temptation [or test] has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tested beyond your ability, but with the test He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

This doesn’t mean God will prevent all suffering. It means He promises to sustain you through it providing grace that is sufficient, even in the most crushing trials.

Just ask the apostle Paul, who pleaded with God to remove a “thorn in the flesh.” God refused not to punish Paul, but to deepen his dependence. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul didn’t get relief. But he got something greater: a deeper experience of God’s presence in his pain.

When we pray for protection, what we’re truly asking is this: “Father, protect me from anything that would sever my trust in You.”

Why We Keep Praying

So why pray at all especially when it feels like nothing changes?

1. Because Jesus told us to.
In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to say, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13). That’s a protection prayer. Jesus didn’t say it to make us feel in control, but to draw our hearts back to the Father even when the world feels out of control.

2. Because prayer invites God’s presence, not just His prevention.
Prayer is not a transaction; it’s communion. It’s not just a request it’s a relationship. In the Psalms, David pleads for protection while running for his life. Sometimes he’s spared. Sometimes he’s not. But his heart remains tethered to God.

Psalm 59:1: “Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me.”
Even in danger, he keeps praying. Not because he’s naïve, but because he knows who holds his soul.

3. Because protection still happens just not always the way we expect.
Belinda remembers four devastating moments where God didn’t “show up” the way she hoped. But how many other unseen moments did God intervene? The flat tire that didn’t happen. The sickness that healed. The sin resisted. The thousands of silent mercies we’ll never notice this side of heaven.

James 4:2 says, “You do not have because you do not ask.” Prayer matters even if we never trace every outcome.

4. Because God is our Father.
Matthew 7:11 reminds us: “If you then… know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
God invites us to ask not because He always says yes but because He always hears, always cares, and always responds according to His perfect wisdom.

How to Pray When It Feels Pointless

When you’ve been disappointed by unanswered prayers, even saying the words can feel fake. That’s okay. Prayer isn’t performance. It’s surrender.

Here’s one way to begin again:

• Start with honesty. God already knows your heart. You don’t need spiritual-sounding words. You can say, “I don’t understand. I’m hurting. I feel abandoned.” That’s not weak faith it’s real faith.

• Pray for four things, in order of eternal significance:

  1. Protection from sin that could harden your heart

  2. Protection from Satan’s lies

  3. Protection from despair in sickness

  4. Protection from sabotage or harm

This is how one couple has prayed for 41 years. Not for immunity from suffering, but for faith that endures through it.

• Let Scripture reshape your feelings.
  When pain rewrites your emotions, let God’s Word be the louder voice. Psalm 46:1: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Not a magic shield, but a present help.

• Remember what you can’t see.
  Every breath you take is proof of protection. Every moment you wake to a new sunrise is mercy. No, we can’t always trace the reasons for suffering. But we can trust that God has protected us more times than we’ll ever know.

The Bottom Line

It’s not pointless to pray. It’s powerful even when you can’t feel it. Because prayer isn’t about controlling outcomes. It’s about clinging to the One who holds us in the fire.

You’re still here. That’s grace. That’s protection. That’s purpose.

So pray yes, even when it hurts. Even when you’re not sure you believe it’s doing anything. God hasn’t left you. And your prayers, spoken in faith or through tears, are never wasted.

He is your refuge.

He is your Father.

And He hears you.

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