Delayed But Not Denied!

I had a comment on my post “Never Pray For Patience”, and I wanted to share her comment and my response:

“I watched Evan Almighty, and will not forget the line when Morgan Freeman (playing God) says “if you pray for patience, God will not give you patience, but opportunities to be patient.” This really hit home with me. I admit I have prayed for patience. But I have also prayed for God to do His will in my life. My question now is: when you’re waiting on something you want in life, to move or get a job, or the like, how do you know whether God is giving you the opportunity to be patient, or whether it is not His will? When do you “give up?” because surely it is not wise to continue to expect something that is not God’s plan for your life. Do you have to want nothing to be mature? Do I have to give up on my desires for them to happen? That is depressing to me.”

The Bible says that He will give us the desires of our heart. (Psalm 37:4) So it is not that we should not want or desire things. In fact, we should be blessed to be a blessing. Plus, the scriptures also say he has laid the wealth of the wicked up for the just (Proverbs 13:22). But here is the key: Psalm 37:3-4 says “Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”

See, God wants to give us things, but He also wants us to know who gave them and where the source is. I am now walking through things in my life where I have identified what God is trying to do through the circumstances. If everything came easily we may become puffed up and think we did it for ourself. But when there is a financial miracle, or we get that house that we really wanted, or the husband we’ve been praying for, or the child we have longed for and told we would never have, well then, God gets the glory. We know there was no way we could have done that on our own!

Matthew 6:33 says “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” What things? Well he tells us in the verses before that. He tells us that he has fed the birds and animals of the earth without them even trying. He says He clothed the lilies of the field in such a way that even King Solomon had never dressed so fine. He did not say I will give you clothes, but you have to be satisfied with rags. He said if you will seek Him that you will eat without struggle, and you will have clothes better than a King could have (and let’s face it, that was for His daughters, because we are the ones who want the clothes, right?)

The answer is not God saying “no,” but the answer may be God saying “not now”. Delayed but not denied! Even the Israelites had to wander in the wilderness before they could ever see the Promised Land. Likewise, David was anointed to be King at an early age, but he still had to slay Goliath, and even run for his own life before he ever reached the throne. And Joseph endured the pit, slavery, Potiphar’s wife, and prison before his dream was ever realized. Abraham was given the promise of a son, and yet it was nearly 30 years before Isaac was born!

Sometimes the purpose of God’s timing is to develop perseverance and faith so that when the promise finally does come, we will be mature enough to handle it and give God the glory for it.

In waiting for God to bring “the Isaac” (the true promise), we have to be careful not to become double-minded (James 1:6-8) and doubt what God has told us, lest we create an Ishmael.

We must trust and believe that God wants to give us the very best. He knows better than we do exactly what we need and when we need it. He will give us the desires of our heart, but He wants our first desire to be for Him. Only then will “all these things be added to you.”