Delays

It is good that we can draw near to our heavenly Father. Jesus told his disciples to pray as children do when they ask their parents. Most children will ask their parents expectantly, whether or not they received the previous things they asked for. Such asking is an expression of trust. Sometimes when we pray we may have at the back of our minds previous requests that we imagine God has not answered. Of course, the reality is that we cannot say that delay is denial; after all, delay may mean God is waiting for a better time for the petition to be answered. If previous prayers are not answered yet, the delay is not a reason to stop asking.

 

While there is more to this relationship than asking, it is usually the case that what we get from him is the consequence of our asking. Even then, we should not limit the answer to our expectancy. We can ask God to give us more grace, but how would we quantify an answer to that petition? In making that prayer, we may have had in mind a specific matter, but God in answering it may have dealt with a dozen or fifty or a hundred matters. Paul does say that God can answer by giving us much more than we can ask or even imagine, which may be an incentive to use our imagination when we pray.

 

One reason why God may delay an answer is because he wants us to spend more time with him. It is possible that our prayers can become self-centred rather than God-centred. If all we do with the heavenly Father is pray about what we want, we are missing out on fellowship and communion with him. Communication with God involves worship – worship is our hearts responding to his greatness revealed to us in his grace. As we have fellowship with him, there must be a sense of wonder in our hearts, there must be gratitude expressed to God for sending his Son to be the Saviour, and there must be submission to his revealed will in the Bible. 

 

We are not only in his presence as his children, we are also there as his servants. The outcome of time spent with God is not just what we want him to do for us. In addition, there will be what he wants us to do for him. That is what happened with our best Example in prayer – Jesus himself. Whenever he spent time with his Father he came away from such times with the determination to fulfil his Father’s will. 

 

In Psalm 17:6-7, we have a precious description of prayer: ‘I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my words. Wondrously show your steadfast love, O Saviour of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand.’ He can show to us wonderful things in answer to prayer.