WHY DOES GOD HESITATE IN RESPONDING TO MY PRAYERS?

SCRIPTURE:
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends:  With the Lord a day is 
like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.  The Lord 
is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness.  He 
is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come 
to repentance. (2 Peter 3:8-9)

MEDITATION:
Have you ever 
wondered about God’s timing in all things (or maybe something specific)?
You may have thoughts like, “Lord I have been praying and asking You, 
but I don’t see anything happening. What are You waiting on?”

You start thinking 
that you need to make some specific changes before He will respond.
You may even start second guessing everything you do, 
including your attitudes and your faith.

These types of thoughts are not necessarily wrong, but may have nothing to do 
with why the Lord is delaying His response to your request.
He might want you to make some changes in your life, but He could also 
be working out some other things before He responds.
He may already have the ‘wheels in motion’ with things you know nothing about.
Sometimes, He may busy with working out changes in the lives others 
as a precursor to responding to your request.

This raises a question to be answered by those who are waiting on the Lord.
Do you have enough faith and trust in Him to wait for His timing?
Waiting is difficult in a world where we are encouraged to act now.
When we delay, it can be perceived as a lack of confidence.

We can rest assured that confidence is not an issue for our Heavenly Father.
The truth is, we may find out later why the Lord delayed 
in responding to our request, or we may never know why.
We do know however, that when we pray, He hears our prayers and He loves us all.

Fortunately we are given God’s Word 
to help us better understand why God delays in responding to our requests.
He is ‘patient and does not want anyone to perish’.
He wants ‘every person to be saved’.

His delay in answering our requests may be 
a part of His plan for the salvation of someone else.
Jesus delayed in responding to the death of His friend Lazarus.
But look what happened when He responded, after His delay.
Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, 
and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. (John 11:45)

That assures us that His delays 
can, and does have an impact on the salvation of others.
If Jesus delayed for that reason with His good friend Lazarus, 
then we can certainly expect God to sometimes delay in responding to us.

ACTION:
Are you in a ‘waiting period’ with the Lord?
Rather than being impatient with Him, 
think about His primary purpose for delaying His response.
When you focus on His reasons for delaying, 
you will find it easier to thank Him for His delay.

Look at the advice from Paul.
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; 
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
Paul said that we should ‘give thanks in all circumstances’ 
which means we should thank Him for His delays.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, I don’t understand all of Your ways, but I know that 
Your plans are good. Forgive me for my impatience, and help me to realize 
that answers to my prayers may be delayed in order to effect the eternal 
destination of others. I thank You for any delays You may have had with 
others that resulted in my salvation. Teach me to be thankful for delays in 
my requests, so that others may be saved. Develop in me a greater faith and
trust in You and Your timing.”