Whenever I geve my children chores, they have historically been reticent to complete them with joy. They might get them done, but usually not without the odd *sigh* or rolling eyes. When they behaved that way when doing normal household chores, it made treating them to something afterwards a chore for us as parents. We didn’t feel like rewarding negative attitudes. They learned quite quickly the way to an ice cream or movie (or both sometimes) meant keeping a smile on their faces while finishing up their chores.
Deut. 28:47,48 “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all these things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.”
The answers to our questions are sometimes much simpler than we realize. It might be that the reason our prayers are going unanswered has more to do with our attitudes than anything else. He’s not forcing us to serve Him – He simply wants our hearts to be willing.