Answering Machine

There are some Scripture passages that kind of make God sound like an answering machine. Now I don't mean like your phone answering machine, but more like a vending machine for answers to prayer. Luke 11:9-13 is one of those passages. Jesus says there, "Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you." On the surface this seems to say that I just ask God for whatever I want, push the right buttons, and I will get what I want in my prayers.
However, in reality most, if not all, of us have prayed for something we did not get. So how do we wrestle with the difference between Jesus' teaching and what we experience? Why is it that some prayers are answered and others are not?
One scholarly response is that this teaching from Jesus was prophetic hyperbole. This means that in order to teach a message about God Jesus exaggerates his point. He did not literally mean everything you ask for you will get, but he was encouraging us to always ask. He was reminding us of the power of prayer.
A more practical response takes me to Luke 22:42 where Jesus prays, "Father, if it is your will, take this cup from me." Jesus is praying that God would not have him go to the cross and die. Of course, Jesus did go to the cross and die. So even Jesus knows what it is like to not have his prayer answered the way he wanted.
This tells me that getting the answer we want in prayer is not about how much God loves us. We may feel less loved by not getting the answer we want, but God still loves us the same just as he loved Jesus the same. It also does not mean we do not have enough faith. Jesus had plenty of faith.
I believe the "answer" to unanswered prayers is to keep on asking, keep on seeking and keep on knocking. We need to continue to pray in the good times and the bad and God will be with us no matter what the answer is.
Let me know if you have other thoughts on this question or even more questions on this question.