God’s Delays - Martin Wiles

The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. James 5:16 NLT

Prayer changes things—except when God chooses to delay answering them.

The prayer of my childhood was simple: “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.”

At some point, I moved on to the Lord’s Prayer. Certainly more complicated, yet I doubt I could understand just how much when I first prayed it—like the kids and adults who prayed it every morning at the Christian school where I taught. I wondered how many of us actually thought about what we were saying. Rote repetition came easy.

James maintains the prayer of a righteous person produces wonderful results, but I’ve said many a prayer that seemed to go no higher than the ceiling and didn’t bring any visible results. Such as the one Mary and Martha surely prayed for their brother who lay on his deathbed. But he died anyway because Jesus delayed coming when He could have been there to heal Lazarus.

God’s delays in answering prayers aren’t mean-spirited. He’s not like the pagan gods who toyed with the emotions of their worshippers. God’s delays have purpose—and are actually for our good—though we might not realize it immediately.

When my motives aren’t right, God delays answering my prayers. Others can’t see my motives, but God can. I may not even know what they are when they are deep-seated. By delaying His answers, God causes those motives to rise to the surface of my mind so I can either change my prayer or alter my motives.

God’s delays His answers when His timing and mine don’t coincide. What I ask for may be in His will—just not at the moment. The delay teaches me patience and helps me realize the importance of right timing.

Sometimes, I’m not prepared for God’s answers—I just think I am. The Bible is filled with stories of those God called but who had to be prepared first: Moses, David, Paul, etc.

And there’s also the possibility God will use someone else in answering my prayer and that He needs to prepare them. Others have often blessed me in various ways, but God had to impress upon them the need to do so.

God’s delays are in our best interests. Be patient until His answer comes.

Tweetable: Is God delaying something you want?

Prayer: Father, thank You for answering our prayers, even when the answer doesn’t come when we want it to. 

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When God Delays - Martin Wiles

O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way? Psalm 13:1 NLT

Every day . . . numerous times, I walked to the woods and prayed the same prayer.

Betrayal is never easy to endure—especially when sorrow isn’t offered. When sorrow and repentance are expressed, the betrayed has something to cling to.

I had little hope. I heard no “I’m sorry,” or “Let’s try to work things out.” Rather, “I don’t love you anymore.” I was left … with my thoughts, loneliness, and children. Several times each day, I made my way to the patch of woods behind our house and prayed for God to change her mind and trouble her soul.

I’m sure God answered my prayer—at least the part where He troubled her mind—but He didn’t make her return. From my perspective, it seemed as if He wasn’t listening or that He was delaying His answer for some unknown reason. The psalmist must have felt the same way.

What I had to learn—or remember—is that God’s delays only appear as such. They aren’t in reality. To say God delays means He operates from a past, present, or future perspective when He doesn’t. In my world, past, present, and future exist. In God’s world, everything is now. He sees it all at one time and at the same time. While mind-boggling, believing this about God helps when I feel as if He has forgotten me.

In times of delay, realizing the difference between feeling and fact is also vital. I felt forgotten. The psalmist felt forgotten. But our feelings didn’t represent reality. God never forgets me or any request I make. He merely knows more than I do and sees the whole realm of His plan for me in one full view.

And of course, free will enters the picture. God allows us to make good or poor choices. He won’t force someone who has made a poor choice to change—although He will trouble their soul. If I’m the one suffering because of someone’s bad choice, I may think God is delaying an answer when it’s actually the free will of the person causing the delay.

God’s delays are only delays from our perspective. Don’t let appearances fool you. God loves and cares for you and will do what is in your best interest.

Prayer: Father, we believe by faith that You always work in our best interest. 

Tweetable: What do you do when God delays?

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