Why would God wait to answer our prayers? Wouldn’t we expect that since God is all-powerful that He would answer immediately? What is the purpose for God’s delaying our prayer requests?
Outside of God’s Will
One reason that God may not answer our prayers or that He waits is that we are asking for the wrong thing. We may be asking for something that is not in God’s will for our lives and we might be asking for selfish reasons. James, the half-brother of Jesus wrote, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures”(James 4:3). For example, if we ask for money and we are not already giving to our local church or we have not been helping the poor, why should God give us more money so that we might spend it on ourselves? Also, we might have the wrong motives in asking for something. If we ask for a better job, the job that we think would be better may actually be worse than the job we have now. God is sovereign and He knows what is best, and holds our best interests in mind for our future (Jer. 29:11).
In the Lord’s Prayer, we are to ask that His will be done on earth just as it is in heaven (Matt 6:10). We know that God’s will for believers is to grow in grace and knowledge, so we can ask for spiritual understanding of His Word just before we read the Bible. There is confidence in praying when we know His will for out lives as it says in I John 5:14-15, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”
We must remember to pray with faith.
Doubt
When we pray, we may have serious doubts about God’s ability or willingness to answer our prayer. James 12:6-7 indicates that if we pray in doubt, God will not honor our requests saying, “But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” God may be waiting for us to pray in real faith, in expectation of receiving an answer, or to see if we are serious enough to continue to pray for it.
Sin Stops Prayer From Being Answered
God will not answer the prayer of a believer if they are in a state of perpetual, unrepentant sin (I Pet. 3:12). Psalm 66:18 is clear that “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.“ If we are obedient, He will hear our prayers (John 15:7) but if we are unforgiving, He will refuse our petitions before His altar (Matt. 18:35). Matthew 5:24 is says that when we fail to forgive others, this is cause for a failed request for His help, “leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.”
Prayer is Answered in God’s Timing
God also expects us to wait patiently on His perfect timing (Psalm 66:18). In Hebrews 10:36, “For you have need of patience, that, after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise.” The minor prophet, Habakkuk speaks for all of us when he grew impatient in waiting for God to answer his request in 1:2, “How long, LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen?” I can most certainly identify with Habakkuk in his sentiments. Psalm 37 is a great Psalm to read when you are seeking the desires of your heart with the realization that it may take some time. Read these key verses from Psalm 37 on waiting:
7 “Rest before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not worry when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.“
25 “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.”
34 “Wait for the LORD and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.”
Sometimes the desires of our heart take time. They do not happen overnight. God is most often at work when He appears to be the most silent. Even though Daniel had to wait three weeks before his prayer was answered, God had actually answered his prayer that very day that he prayed. Don’t think that since God does not immediately reveal to you His answer, that He has not answered it and has not answered it right away. Daniel had his prayer answered the very same day of his request but it took three weeks for God’s sovereign timing for it to reach him – and it did at exactly the right time, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them”(10:12).
Stories of Waiting For Prayer To Be Answered
Don’t ever give up on praying. God shows us that persistence pays off in Luke 18:1-8, “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” The point of this parable is that if we continue steadfastly in prayer God will honor that persistence. Never give up on praying because God may be waiting to see if it is important enough to us to continue in prayer, day and night, day after day.
I heard the story of a faithful mother who had been praying for 28 years for her son to come to faith in Christ. Year after year her son was rebellious. He abused drugs, was in and out of jail, and showed no signs of ever knowing Christ. The days and years dragged on with absolutely no indication that there was anything different in the man‘s life. Then one day, 28 years after his mother first prayed for him, this man came to a saving faith in Christ. Today this man, Terry Williams, uses his testimony to help other prison inmates find their way to a relationship with the only One Who can save: Jesus Christ. What if this mother had given up? What if she decided it was not important enough to keep praying each and every day? What a difference this mother made in her steadfast prayers due to her undying love for her son. Today her son is making an eternal difference for others in prison. This was all due to prayer. Even though she had to wait
Another article you might be interested in:
Does God Answer The Prayers of Unbelievers?
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I have been taking care of a mother with severe dementia for 6 yrs. I have two sisters that never cared about my mother getting ill. They only thought when she was well that she had money (which is a total laugh) so they were always around. I was constantly pushed away and lied about. I was the only one with sincere feelings and my mother also pushed me away. I knew she had nothing and I didn’t want nothing. I only wanted a relationship with her. I eventually started taking care of her 24/7. My sisters are no where in sight for 6 yrs. In away its good because they would only cause trouble. We are in such a financial bind and need help badly. Now my mother is worse. She is recovering from pnumonia and will not walk with her walker anymore (she could even PT has sais there is nothing wrong with her legs and that she is stuborn) so everything is on me, cleaning her etc. It is so hard I feel like I have been buried alive. I have no help except a family health nurse that comes and a PT that is trying to work with her to walk. Otherwise it is pure hell. My sister 6 yrs ago also slandered my name because she was mad I took control of my mother because I could see my sister was taking advantage of her. I had a beginner lawyer that knew nothing and naturally the case got dismissed after 4 1/2 yrs. I was in complete shock and lost all hope or faith in God. I then went back to God and pray constantly for help wuth the situation of my mother and financial assisstance and rcv nothing. I constantly hear how other people are getting ahead and getting things and they don;t even pray and it seems I have been totally forgotten by God.
This is one of those things that trouble a lot of people, even Solomon, Job, and the Psalmist wrote about this, and in fact, the same vexing question occurs again and again in the Bible:
“Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?” (Job 21:7).
“I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked” (Psalm 73:3).
Examples in the present world abound. Any list of the super-rich and super-powerful today would include very few who are genuine believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, walking humbly and righteously before God. There is grave spiritual danger inherent in riches and power, unless these privileges are dedicated deliberately and sincerely to the work of God. Even a church—the church at Laodicea—was scathingly rebuked by Christ: “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing: and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17).
God has promised to supply all our need if we are faithful to him (Philippians 4:19; Matthew 6:33), and we need to weigh all our standards of prosperity on the scales of eternity. “I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace” (Psalm 37:35–37).
Please understand that everyone will some day face the judgment seat of God (Rev 20) and for those who prosper or take advantage of people will give an account for every single action, word, and deed in this life.
Let me encourage you from the book of Isaiah 49:14-16:
“But Zion has said, “The Lord has forsaken me and the Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a woman forget her nursing child, and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. Behold I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me.”
Our Lord seems to be wanting to reassure us by saying with a personal promise to each one of us that He is ever mindful of us. Isn’t that incredible? “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” (Hebrews 6:10) People who are getting ahead but die without Christ will be forever separated from God and that is going to be something that they will have to live with – regret – for all time. Not so with you and those who are believers and have placed their faith in Christ Jesus. Take heart for He will never leave you nor forsake you nor cast you away (John 6:37). I have discovered from experience that when God is most silent is when He is most active…behind the scene of human eyes, working all things for your good (Rom 8:28).