Blog

What do you do with a delay? I’m not really referring to a delay of an airplane or a delay in getting your food at a restaurant. I’m really thinking of delay in relationship to some need you have brought before God. What do you do, think, and feel, when your needs are brought to God – the urgency of them is every moment more critical feeling, and nothing happens?

I don’t want to speak for you, but I will speak for myself. I am not a fan of waiting. I don’t mind waiting in line at the gas station. I don’t mind waiting my turn. I’m not meaning waiting for my turn, per se, I mean I am not a fan of waiting for the LORD to act on my behalf or on behalf of my loved ones.

I am not sure where I got the idea that I should expect God to move in my timing. God has never moved in my timing – and if I am being honest – I am glad that He didn’t. He knows best! But there is a part of me that has felt like the Bible is really clear that we are to take all of our burdens to the LORD – the BIG and the small – and let God handle them. I think I do a great job of bringing my needs and burdens to the LORD. That’s probably not my problem. My problem lies more with the waiting process – with being ok with how and WHEN God decides to answer or reveal Himself.

Perhaps our issue with delay is that we are misinterpreting what delay means or the reason for it. Am I alone here? Sometimes I interpret God’s delay as God’s “No.” If I would just separate myself emotionally from the requests and move into the logical side of my brain and what I know about my God, I would remember or realize that God’s delay serves a purpose – and in fact is an entirely separate answer from His “No.”

The reminder that comes to my mind even as I write out my thoughts is the story of Lazarus. I have no idea what sort of sickness came upon him, but whatever it was, Lazarus went downhill fast. His sisters did the right thing. They knew the seriousness of the situation and sought help from the only one who they knew could change the trajectory of this illness. They sent for Jesus. They knew that Jesus could heal their brother. They knew that Jesus would heal their brother. And so they anxiously awaited His arrival.

Make no mistake, Jesus could have come. It’s not that He needed to. Jesus could have simply said the word and Lazarus would have been healed. One word… Instead of immediate healing – there was loss. Jesus did not come. But was this a “No”? If you know the story – and we are privileged to know the story’s entirety – we know it wasn’t. What may have seemed like a “No,” was in fact nothing more than a delay. Why? Jesus, who never did anything unintentionally, wanted to make sure we understood who He really was. I think Jesus’ healing of a sick Lazarus would have been a great miracle – but how much more miraculous is the understanding that our Jesus holds the power to raise and restore life to a dead man – even one who had been in the grave for 4 days! Make no mistake: There was a reason for the delay.

There is always a reason for the delay. There is always a purpose in the waiting.

Do you suppose that we are the only ones who hurt while we continue like the nagging widow before our Father pleading our case? Do you suppose that a truly loving God – and He is a truly loving God – does not hurt along with us?

A.J. Russell in his book “God Calling” writes this about times of delay: “Delay is but the wonderful and all-loving restraint of your Father – not reluctance, not desire to deny – but the Divine control of a Father who can scarcely brook the delay.”

It’s interesting. As a parent there are times when my children earnestly ask me for something. Sometimes at their request I will give a more immediate filling of their request – but at other times, I am able to discern that the timing is not right, and so I wait. My heart for them doesn’t change. My desire to bless them doesn’t change. It’s not that I am rejecting their request altogether. It’s simply a delay. A delay with a reason for it. Backed in love.

Delay has to be sometimes. Just thinking about the way in which our lives are so very linked to the lives of other people certainly impacts it. How many times has God used the circumstances of one life to impact in a sort of domino-effect the life of another? Had God provided an instant fulfillment to our request, what other prayer or need in the life of another would have gone unfulfilled?

God’s delay isn’t God’s denial. It isn’t God withholding from His children. Delay is the opportunity for God to work out our problems and accomplish our desires in the most wonderful way possible for us. After all, doesn’t He know best? Doesn’t He see the whole, where we can only see in part?

LORD, reframe our thinking. We have been getting it all wrong. We have somehow believed that we are superior in our understanding of what needs to be done, along with the how and when, instead of trusting you with it. Forgive us, LORD. Help us to remember who you are and that you never change. There is a purpose for our delays. Instead of complaining about them, help us to find a reason to rejoice in knowing that you hear us, and you plan to use this delay in ways beyond what we can imagine. Help us to keep our eyes fixed upon you. Help us to trust your plan and process. You are capable of meeting each and every one of our needs in just the right time and in just the right way. Increase our love for you as we wait. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.

Blessings!