Waiting

Don’t be discouraged, even though it seems like you have been praying forever for the situation that you find yourself in, for the salvation of one of your family members, or the challenges one of your friends are facing.

Waiting for God to answer our prayers is hard, for we live in a society that is based on instant gratification, fast food, fast cars, and rapid transit. Our patience is tested when we find ourselves waiting, especially if we are waiting for an answer, or when we find ourselves or a loved one in pain and are waiting for a way out. Yet when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, Jesus did not say that their prayers would be answered instantly. Instead Jesus said they needed to persist in prayer, to ask, to seek, to knock.

In your waiting for God to answer your prayers, you are not alone. There is a long line of believers before you who have had to wait for God to answer their prayers. Anna and Simeon prayed patiently every day until they were nearing the end of their lives before they saw the baby Jesus, God in the flesh (Luke 2:25-38). God allowed them to catch a glimpse of the beginning of the answer to their prayer – the baby Jesus. But they did not live to see how God was going to fully fulfill the answer to their prayers – they did not live to see how God’s plan of salvation was going to be worked out.

Why God has chosen His timing, and His way of answering your prayers, may well remain a mystery until you cross over into Glory. However know this, that God is faithful, and just as He answered Anna’s and Simeon’s prayers, He will answer your prayers. In the mean time, in the midst of what is happening in your life cling to this promise that:

God will keep in perfect peace all who trust in Him,
   all whose thoughts are fixed on Him!
Trust in the Lord always,
   for the Lord God is the eternal Rock. (Isa 26:3-4).

P.S. It may help you to keep a journal of your prayers, and God’s answers. So at times like these you can look back and be reminded again of God’s faithfulness in your life.