Understanding God's Timing
The prayer that takes possession of God's best often involves waiting.
Why does God delay? There are many reasons. But there are some things we should understand, or we'll misinterpret why we have to wait. We must avoid interpreting God's delays as God's denials. In the Bible, you'll discover that delays are the norm, not the exception.
Unless a specific need must be had by a definite time, delays are inevitable. America is the home of microwave living; we are used to drive-through restaurants, drive-through banks, and drive-through grocery stores. But with God, there is no such thing as drive-through breakthrough; there's a price for progress.
I am going to share seven thoughts about waiting on God in prayer:
- * One reason we have to wait is that God is teaching us to trust Him.
* Another reason God delays in answering us is because it keeps us talking to Him. God also uses delays to line up the human channels through which He'll provide our answer.
* God uses delays to expose unsurrendered areas of our life.
* God also uses His delays to expose wrong motives in us (Ecclesiastes 4:4; James 3:14-16).
* God sometimes delays if the answer to our prayer might take us away from Him.
* God sometimes delays granting a request until we learn to find our satisfaction in Him and Him alone (John 17:3).
So why does God seem to take forever?
Thought 1:
One reason we have to wait is that God is teaching us to trust Him. The longer the delay, the greater the impact the answer will have for God's Kingdom.
Noah waited 120 years while building a boat before the flood came. Abraham waited more than 25 years for the fulfillment of God's promise. Jacob waited 20 years until he was out from under Laban's thumb. Joseph waited 13 years for the fulfillment of his God-given dream. Moses waited 40 years until it was God's time for him to rescue Israel. David waited 12 years from the time he was anointed until he was crowned. Jesus waited 30 years before He fulfilled God's promises as Messiah.
Most of us know Proverbs 3:5-6, but we have never lived it. We're prone to take back control of our lives when things get tough. God intends that we all learn to trust Him.
Thought 2:
Another reason God delays in answering us is to keep us talking to Him. Otherwise, we might not talk to Him at all.
My son, John Paul, is like that. He really lays on the, "I love you 'Dad," when he's interested in getting some money to go out with his friends. I'm a human ATM to John Paul; if it weren't for that, he wouldn't talk with me as much. Someone said, "God either leads us to pray, or He drives us to pray. "
I'd much rather pray voluntarily than be driven to my knees by tough times.
Thought 3:
God uses delays to line up the human channels through which He'll provide our answer. God uses many means to answer our prayers. Fickle human beings happen to be one of His favorites.
Human channels sometimes argue with God instead of instantly obeying. In Acts 9:10-17, the Lord told Ananias to go to a certain street, and to pray for a certain Saul to receive his sight. Ananias nodded his head, up to the point he heard who he was to pray for. That's when Ananias thought he knew more about Saul than God did. He argued with God over whether God got the name right. Ananias eventually agreed with God and then obeyed. But, what if he had delayed because of his fear over approaching Saul?
Sometimes God has to get more than one human channel lined up to answer your prayer. And if one refuses, how much delay will there be until God gets His second choice to answer your prayer lined up?
An important lesson is found here. Waiting on God involves trusting His timing rather than moving ahead with our own timing. Think about David's trust in God's timing. And consider Abraham's situation.
Two different opportunities occurred in David's life where he could have taken the Kingship of Israel into his own hands (1 Samuel 24:3-22; 26:6-25). But he didn't. Eventually when David did become King, he didn't suffer from the problems he'd encountered if he had taken God's will into his own hands.
Then look at Abraham. If Abraham had waited on God's plan and His timing, he'd eventually gotten Isaac. But when Abraham went with his own timing instead, he got Ishmael. And we still feel the impact of Ishmael today. Problems caused by our own Ishmaels can hang around a long time.
Thought 4:
God uses delays to expose unsurrendered areas of our life.
Once I was praying for a new job, with a definite timeframe for the answer to come. I prayed everyday towards that specific deadline. Later, I found out one of the two people who got the available jobs was less qualified than I was. This made me angry with God. I thought I'd done such a good job praying for the new position. I thought I deserved it, because I'd been particularly obedient in the financial areas of my life.
Walking in a mall one day, not too long afterwards, God suddenly told me what happened. It was like a bolt out of the blue, because my mind was on something else. I don't even remember thinking about the issue that day, before God spoke. In the still small voice that, in this case, got loud fast, God said, "The degree of your stress over this issue reveals how unsurrendered this area of your life is to My Lordship."
I was perplexed.
Let's just say God was right. He was more interested in getting that area surrendered to His Lordship than He was with my getting the new job. All the prayer in the world wouldn't have changed His mind in this instance.
About a year later, God did grant me a similar job. But, I had to wait patiently for a year in a position I didn't relish. I learned to say, if God wanted me there for the duration of my career, then that was ok with me.
Thought 5:
God also uses His delays to expose wrong motives in us (Ecclesiastes 4:4; James 3:14-16).
Often, our prayer requests arise out of envy. We want what someone else has. And in our jealously, we discount God's present provision for our lives.
When we want something someone else has, we also miss out on what God wants to develop in us. We want someone else's gift, so we belittle what God has given to us. If God isn't allowed to develop the gifts we have, we get increasingly frustrated. God may have wanted us to progress to a certain place in our own gifts, but we haven't allowed Him to develop us because of our jealousies.
God may want to give us the gifts we envy, but uses the delays to purify our motives. Such motives are often indications of how far we've bought into the world's value system. Bigger is better, you have to possess a certain lifestyle, look a certain way, etc. in order to be happy. James says, "...where jealousy and self-ambition exists, there is disorder and every evil thing" (James 3:13). Jealously and envy crowd God out of your life. Why? It's like putting out a welcome mat for the enemy, and issuing an eviction notice to your Creator. That's why He won't let those emotions dominate you for long.
Thought 6:
God sometimes delays if the answer to our prayer might take us away from Him.
This isn't always the case. The father in the prodigal son parable did give the younger son his portion of the inheritance. The difference between the father in this story and our Heavenly Father is that our Heavenly Father knows ahead of time what we will do, while the father in the prodigal son story didn't know what his son would do.
God uses delays to change our character so we can handle the temptations that come with the answer. And the greatest temptation is to walk away from Him.
The lessons of the prodigal son are manifold. If God does grant us something that, at our present level of maturity, can take us away from Him, then God has left a pigpen somewhere in our future to turn us back to Him. Psalm 106:15 says, "He gave them their request...but sent leanness into their soul." We can bring this leanness upon ourselves.
We can be "cursed with the burden of granted prayer."
Thought 7:
God sometimes delays granting a request until we learn to find our satisfaction in Him and Him alone (John 17:3). We often feel like we are missing out on something. We feel incomplete without that special something, or that special someone.
Satan will use this. He'll say, "God is withholding something from you that will make you truly happy." That's similar to the original lie he told to Eve.
God will challenge us with frustrations until we change our priorities. Matthew 6:33 says, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, then all these things shall be added to you." When we reverse that priority and seek other things first, we miss out on the most important thing in life: Jesus.
More On God's Timing
Have you ever been weighed down while waiting on God? Yours is a common experience (Hebrews 6:12).
Elijah had to pray seven times before the rain started again in Israel (1 Kings 18:41-45). That's seven times. In between the prophet's prayers, his servant went up the mountain to see if anything was coming. That took up time between the requests. And God has declared that our prayers carry as much influence with Him as did Elijah's prayers. (James 5:16b-18).
Think about it. Elijah had to wait on God and pray multiple times before his request was answered. Should we expect any less? Waiting on God is the work of prayer, a requirement of prayer. It takes time for nature to turn a hunk of coal into a raw diamond. So why are we surprised when it takes God time to turn our raw prayer requests into His precious provision for us? If we understand a little of what He's up to, we'll be much more willing to cooperate with the process.
In this installment, we'll discuss seven additional truths about waiting on God. These include:
- Unforgiveness can delay answers to our prayers.
- Delay comes when our requests need fine tuning.
- God answers us by opening several doors rather than one.
- We fail to fulfill a prerequisite for the prayer to be answered.
- Satan delays an answer to prayer.
- God tempers and tests your faith by His delays.
- God enlarges our faith so it can handle all He wants to give us.
Truth #1
Sometimes we delay God's answer to our petitions with bitterness and unforgiveness.
Matthew 5:23-24, Ephesians 4:26-27, and 1 Peter 3:7 declare how important it is to keep our relationships free of bitterness and unforgiveness. Many people don't deserve our forgiveness anymore than we deserve God's forgiveness; but we have to forgive them anyway. If we don't, not only will it hinder our prayers, but it also invites Satan's tormenters to harass us.
We sin when we continue in unforgiveness and bitterness. At the same time, forgiving someone doesn't mean trusting them. Forgiveness is free, while trust is earned. Trust is the fruit of faithfulness in a relationship.
Truth #2
Next, God often delays so our requests can be fine tuned. There is a huge difference between what a little kid thinks he needs need and what his true needs are. (Matthew 7:9-11).
Our Father knows what's best for us. When a kid is hungry, he thinks he needs candy and a soda. But Daddy knows what the child really needs is meat, potatoes, vegetables, and milk. The lesson is this: sometimes what we ask for isn't necessarily bad, but its not God's best. And He wants us to have His best.
Truth #3
Sometimes God's answer doesn't consist of one answer, but a series of events, like one door opening after another. Don't let your expectations blind you to the obvious open door.
Let's illustrate this with a little story:
Once, a Christian decided to stay at his house and wait out a flood. As the water grew higher, and his idea didn't look so hot, he began to pray for God to save him. When the water got up to the edge of the roof, a guy in a canoe came by and offered to give the man a lift. The man refused, saying he was believing God for a miracle. Well, the water got higher and higher, until the guy had to stand atop his chimney to keep from getting wet.A helicopter came by and offered to take him out of the water, but the guy refused, steadfastly saying he was waiting for God's miraculous answer to his prayer. Well, the water got higher and higher, until it went above the guy's chimney, and he drowned. When he opened his eyes in heaven, he said to God, "I prayed and prayed; why didn't you save me?"
God said, "Son, I sent you a canoe, then a helicopter to pick you up. What more was I supposed to do?"
We shouldn't get mad at God for not answering our prayers, when the reply may be standing right in front of us.
Truth #4
Next, it isn't always God delaying a prayer's answer; sometimes we delay answers to our own prayers. We cause the delay because we don't do our part in praying for an answer. The Bible says in Matthew 7:7-8, "Ask, and it shall be given, seek, and you shall find, knock, and the door will be open unto you..." You have to give your best to get God's best. If you casually pray for something, expect a casual answer. If, however, you are constantly bugging Him, like the widow pestered the Judge, He will bring about the justice your prayer request is due.
You can just hope that God will do something for you...and out of His great mercy, He may do it. But without prayer, He may not. Hope plus faith equals prayer.
Jesus said the Father feeds the sparrows (Matthew 6:26). Worms represent an inheritance to the sparrows. But birds starve if they don't scratch the worms out of the ground. You can't expect to be the Valedictorian at your college without studying, then blame God when you don't achieve it.
If it's not important enough for you to pray about, then why should it be important enough for God to act on your behalf.
Truth #5
Frequently, Satan can delay the answer to a prayer request, but not deny it. A satanic delay becomes a denial only when we give up. We know that in Daniel 10: 1-3, 12-13, and 20-21, Satan delayed the answer to Daniel's prayer for 21 days. Also in 1 Thessalonians 2:18, Paul explained that he'd tried to visit the Thessalonians more than once, but that Satan thwarted his plans.
In instances like these, you have to hang in there until the backbone of the enemy's resolve is broken. Sometimes you have to take your praying up to the next level. Daniel did a limited fast during the time he waited for God to answer his prayer. If you can medically handle it (Check with your physician first), fasting can break the enemy's hold over a situation. Remember Jesus' words at the base of the Mount of transfiguration. When the apostles asked why they couldn't cast out a demon, He said: "This kind doesn't come out, but by prayer and fasting."
Be aware that you can't use fasting to twist God's arm into doing something against His will. However, you can sure twist the enemy's arm and make him squeal. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, fasted one day a week to keep up the power of the Holy Spirit in his life. That might be a good place to start.
God's opportunities lead to satanic oppositions. When you face satanic resistance, stand your ground. Like the song says, take your stand on the promises of God (Hebrews 6:11-12). Do you want to stay in the wilderness of unanswered prayers, or enter the land of granted promises?
Truth #6
Often God tests and tempers your faith by His delays (Matthew 15:22-28). Take a look at the gentile woman who wanted a demon cast out of her daughter. Notice how unloving Jesus' treatment of her appears.
First, Jesus ignores her when she makes her request (v.23). Second, He acts as if she was disqualified, because she's a gentile (v.24). Third, He limits what can be done for her (v.26). But after all that, He grants her request, marveling at how much faith she possesses (v.28). Why did Jesus treat the lady so badly, then speak so positively about her faith? Obviously, He meant to test her.
Sometimes God is silent. When God is silent, the enemy says we're not worthy enough for God to answer our prayers. But, what's worthiness got to do with anything? Only Jesus is worthy. So, if God doesn't answer you right away, or He seems silent in the face of your prayer request, don't take it as a sign of His disapproval. Press into God and pray towards your goal. Never give up, for that is just the place and time when the tide will turn.
Truth #7
And lastly, waiting deepens our faith so we can handle all that God intends to give us. Psalm 105:17-19 reads: "He sent a man before them, Joseph who was sold as a slave. They afflicted his feet with fetters. He himself was laid in irons. Until the time his word came to pass, the Word of the Lord tested Him."
Often God intends to give us more than our faith can handle. He stretches our wineskins, so that we can hold more. Waiting involves deepening our faith so that we can receive all God intends to give us. Deepening our faith means our roots need to go deeper. When storms come and our faith is tested, the depth of our roots determines whether we stand on a promise or topple into error.
Sometimes God wants to make you a prince (or princess) through the prison. Rees Howell, the great intercessor, found his smaller prayer victories became the platform for larger intercessory victories later on. His faith grew as God proved faithful on each rung of the ladder. Joseph's victories were also progressive. First came faithfulness with Jacob's herds, second, Pothiphar's household, third, the royal prison, and fourth, the political leadership of Egypt.
Many of us treat our inheritance as a credit card with a low spending limit.
We're afraid we'll overextend ourselves, and it won't be there for real emergencies. Is it any wonder that we pray for thimbles of blessings, when God wants us to pray down showers of blessings?
Prayer is how we obtain our inheritance, not how we spend it.
In the next lesson, we'll examine the crunch time that often occurs while we wait on God. Have you ever given up too soon on a prayer request?
Encouragement Along the Wait
As you wait in prayer, you often reach a place where you have to make a decision. Has God said, "No," and you've missed His cue? Or, has He said, "Wait?"
In Robert Frost's poem, "The Road Less Traveled," the narrator comes to a fork in the road. One branch leads along a well-worn path. The other lane heads in another direction, one choked with brush and briars. The obvious choice is the familiar avenue. On the other hand, if you take the debris-strewn trail, you'll view sights few have seen. You often come to the same junction in the road when you pray over a long-term request. And you must decide which way to chose.
Constrained at the Crossroads
There will be strong pressure to take the broad, well-marked way. Those who should be supportive--relatives, friends, parents and spouses--may urge you to get practical, to strike while the opportunity presents itself.
Yet, peril awaits those who miss God's timing. The Children of Israel attempted to force God's hand (Numbers 14:39-45). They tried to enter the Promised Land after the window of opportunity had closed. Instead of barreling forward, they were beaten backwards. Then, there was King Saul (1 Samuel 13:8-14). Saul couldn't wait for Samuel to arrive and do the sacrifice. As people began to scatter instead of staying together to battle the Philistines, Saul offered sacrifices to the Lord. He took matters into his own hands. Saul disobeyed God by offering the sacrifice, because only a priest like Samuel was supposed to do the altar work. As a result, Saul lost the Kingdom. Saul was unwilling to wait an extra day for God.
What a contrast we find in David. He was willing to wait on God twelve years or 4,380 days. On two occasions David could have gone ahead of God's timing. He could have taken God's will into his own hands. After Saul tried to kill David, he could have rationalized killing the king (1 Samuel 24:6; 26:9-11). David took the "Road Less Traveled." David didn't get ahead of God, and neither should you.
Your support network may also use emotional blackmail to dissuade you from waiting on God. Job's wife proved less than a fount of encouragement when she said: "'Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!'" (Job 2:9).
At best, your support group may write you off as "too heavenly minded to be any earthly good." At worse, they may chime in with comments like Job's wife. A few words of criticism can become a barrage of constant barbs.
In addition, Satan plays mind games with you while you wait. He sponsors much of the inner pressure to quit. He'll invoke things like, "You're too small to matter in God's plan." Or he'll say, "You're too messed up to be considered by God." There are a number of ploys he'll take against you.
I believe satanic attacks increase as the potency of your prayers rise. The more you stand up for Jesus, the more the devil will push you down. We'll explore that topic in a later lesson.
Promises for the Favored Few
When you wait on God, you join an elite group. You are part of the favored few. I use the words "elite" and "few" for a reason. The line of Christians willing to wait on God thins and dwindles as time wears on. Yet, dozens of verses promise special provisions for those who wait on God.
I'd like to sample those promises as an encouragement to you. You may Also want to check other verses that speak of the privileges available to those who wait on God. The truths include:
- God promises an inheritance to those who wait for Him.
- God pledges to hear the requests of those who wait on Him.
- God strengthens those who wait on Him.
- God promises to surpass the expectations of those who wait on Him.
Truth #1
First, God promises that those who wait on Him will not only inherit answers to their prayers, but also promotion, even in humble circumstances: "Wait for the Lord and keep His way, and He will exalt you to inherit the land" (Psalm 37:34).
We see this principle operating in the life of Joseph. When circumstances were difficult and Joseph had no where to turn, the Lord's favor lifted him up: "But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer" (Genesis 39:21). I have seen this verse in action up close. In 2004, I found myself again in a job I'd occupied four years earlier due to downsizing. To make matters worse, I suddenly found myself under a manager who'd once given me trouble. I expected that person to begin where they'd left off in 2000.
But I received a prophecy about that same time, which said: "I was getting the sense that things at work look like you're going backwards to places that you thought--I don't want to say that you graduated from, but places you don't want to revisit or things, I don't know what's up with this old boss. But I got a feeling that that's going to be a place of promotion. I don't mean in the natural, although that may happen-- There's something about those beginnings that God wants to redeem." Soon after this, I started working under that particular boss after several weeks of classroom training. Things were completely different than I had thought they'd be. I was cut loose from on-the-job training early. Not long afterwards, I was put in charge of two projects that allowed me to set my own schedule versus having to follow a weekly schedule of appointments.
The job still wasn't my first choice for how to make a living, but it was God's provision for the season. The way my one-time manager now treated me made things tolerable. God extended His favor though a supervisor who four years earlier had tried to get me fired. Indeed, God redeemed a bad chapter from my past. The Lord is no respecter of persons; He will do the same for you.
Truth #2
Second, God pledges to hear the prayers of those who wait on Him. His oath is better than most people's handshakes or when they swear on a stack of Bibles. This is a promise to hold in the enemy's face. Satan tells us that God has turned away from us. In contrast, our God promises to listen to us as we submit ourselves to Him and His means of fulfilling His promises: "I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry" (Psalm 40:1).
One key to this verse is that it requires "patient" waiting. I'm not one to wait patiently. But God has a way of coaxing endurance, even if I don't pray for it. Sometimes, God leaves you with no means to break down the door of opportunity. When a door remains shut despite your best efforts, and only a divine miracle will open it, you have two choices. One, you can get stressed. Chronic stress invites all kinds of physical, emotional, and spiritual problems. Or, you can follow David's prescription: "Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes" (Psalm 37:8).
Truth #3
Third, God promises to strengthen those who wait on Him. In other words, He gives us the strength to endure what it takes to wait on Him: "Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary" (Isaiah 40:31).
God's strength bolsters our resolve to say "no" when the enemy urges us to take matters into our own hands. He strikes us when we feel down and makes us wonder if God will ever show up. David knew about low times like that. When faced with waiting on God, David said: "I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord" (Psalm 27:13-14).
Our God helps us stay alert when doziness tries to keep us from prayer. Sometimes the Lord pours His presence to recharge your emotional and spiritual batteries. A car battery must be charged, or your car won't start. Do you know how many times a day you turn the key in the ignition of your auto? The car's starter has a daily need for battery power, or you'll end up going nowhere fast.
About three years ago, I worked as a manager, in a a semi-private cubicle, with no door and seven-foot high walls that didn't reach the ceiling. One day the Lord's presence came upon me while I sat at my desk, minding my own business. I hadn't asked for a fresh touch or anything. I forget now what was going on at that time, but something had been troubling me; I think it was over the uncertainty of whether I'd find a position in the face of a pending layoff. In fact, I was listening to secular music at the time.
For an hour and a half, wave-upon-wave of God's power rained down. I was a blubbering mess, tears and all. I had to stay put and try to keep quiet the best I could. Here's what I wrote right afterwards, when I finally could write something:
Dear Jesus:
I want You to stand up inside of me. I want You to resonate in my being, and I want Your singular desires to be the driving song of my soul. I want You to burn as my inspiration. I thank You, for even though it hurt deeply, You have made within me a great capacity for delayed gratification. This has prepared me for where I am now and for what You are doing now in me and through me. You are a great mystery, oh Lord. Help me to embrace the mystery!
You may never experience the magnitude of His presence like this, except in the place of waiting. That outpouring may or may not be the answer to your prayer. But Jesus did say that it is available for those who ask (Luke 11:13). And for me, that fresh touch turned God's place of waiting into an oasis on the way.
Truth #4
Fourth, God promises to exceed our wildest expectations when He grants the request we've waited for: "For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him" (Isaiah 64:4). "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen" (Ephesians 3:20-21).
What I call the "Overnight Principle" comes into operation in these promises. We sometimes forget who God is when we are faced with impossible situations. God is the God of impossibilities. He majors in turning the improbable into the probable. Your circumstances can suddenly change overnight. It does happen, and it's not always unpleasant, when the Lord originates it.
In a previous lesson, I spoke of how I had applied for a promotion that I didn't get in late 2004. After that, and hearing the Lord's word on the circumstance, I'd resigned myself to remain in a position I didn't particularly like, if it brought glory to God. I didn't want to retake the test the Lord had put me through. I hadn't had a chance for promotion since 1994. And I'd prayed over several applications, only to come up empty.
Well, I applied for a promotion and a new job one more time. I prayed for the application process, but I tried not to get so wired up over the results. One day several months later, I suddenly ran into the manager of the unit for which I had applied. He came to my cubicle, shook my hand, then went over to my current manager's office. As he left, I said, "It was nice to see you, for whatever reason you came by."
When I asked my manager what happened, I found out I'd been selected for the last position I'd applied for. Overnight, I had my first real promotion after eleven years of "lateral transfers" back and forth between positions of similar grades. Eleven years, then suddenly everything regarding that part of my prayer life changed.
These verses indicate that God has the same in mind for you.
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