Thursday, October 06, 2011

When God says "Not yet".

Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD (Psalm 27:14).

God answers every prayer. But He doesn’t always give the answer that we want. Sometimes the answer is “not yet—later.” This is a frustrating answer, because it requires patient waiting from us. But God has good reason to make us wait.

Anticipation builds excitement. When you work for hours under the hot sun, sweating and thinking about a cool beverage in the shade, that drink will taste wonderful when you finally get it. The longer you that wait for something, the more you will appreciate getting it in the end. When things come quickly and easily, we tend to take them for granted. The Lord takes pleasure in blessing us with His gifts; He wants us to enjoy them fully and be properly grateful for them as well.

God often makes us wait because we tend to be impatient, and impatience leads to sinful behavior. You can see it in almost any store. A little child wants something now. When mom or dad try to put the request on hold, a tantrum erupts. We don’t like being told to wait. We don’t like taking turns or being last in line. We want immediate relief from pain and discomfort. When we don’t get fast action, we start acting sinfully—being rude, making threats, exaggerating our need, or even resorting to outright theft or cheating. Jesus suffered and died to free us from being punished for sins like these, and God works hard at training us to behave decently. So there are times when He makes us wait.

And sometimes God makes us wait in order to strengthen our faith in Him. Worry and fear are the great enemies of faith. When we let worries consume our thoughts, we stop looking to God for answers. When we are consumed with fear, we no longer trust God to take care of us. If we don’t get an immediate response from the Lord after praying, we wrongfully assume that He isn’t listening or doesn’t care; then we start trying to make things happen, even though we lack the power and wisdom to make things better on our own. Sometimes God our Father makes us wait so we learn to stop reaching for the panic button and trust His timing instead.

It can be hard to wait patiently, but when God says “not yet,” it’s to make each one of us a better person.

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