We love it when God answers prayer. He thunders from heaven to answer Elijah, sending fire to ignite wet wood. He provides food and work, heals the sick, reassembles broken marriages, brings wayward children home. We wouldn't bother to ask God's help if we didn't want his resounding "Yes!" to our prayers.

When our prayers are good and reasonable, we see no reason why a good and powerful God wouldn't grant what we ask. But even to the greatest saints God sometimes says no. The "company of the denied" includes David, Paul, even Jesus. Is it possible to make sense of unanswered prayer?

With wisdom and warmth, Leith Anderson probes prayer's toughest mysteries, leading readers anew to the God who is worth trusting.

Leith Anderson is senior pastor of Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. He has shepherded thousands of people through both elation and despair and is one of America's best known pastors.