Rewards from Unanswered Prayers

Photo: Luis Beltran

In his last address to the young people of Bnei Yisrael who were about to enter Eretz Yisrael, Moshe Rabbeinu retold the story of their parents' mistakes in the Midbar. 

When retelling the sin of the spies, Moshe says that they were punished and routed by the Emori in their effort to go to Eretz Yisrael without permission. After this defeat they came back to the Machaneh and began to cry. The pasuk says [1:45] "V'Lo Shama Hashem B'Kolchem" - Hashem did not listen to them. The next pasuk says that they stayed in Kadeish many years. Rashi says that they stayed there for 19 years without wandering around.

The Netziv says that we see from here that even when Hashem does not listen to our prayers and does not grant our request, the tefila still helps. While their prayers did not repeal the gezeira [decree] of staying in the Midbar for 40 years, it helped that they settled in one place and did not need to wander for 19 years. We can't always get what we want but we always get something!

Source: Revach.net