Why God Delays in Answering Our Prayers

Intro

We’ve been in our series, Prayer Changes Everything since the start of the year and the last couple weeks, we looked at why God doesn’t always answer our prayers. If you missed it, I encourage you to go back and check those out. The big thing to remember from those messages is that unanswered prayer comes down to two things: either we aren’t praying enough, and God wants to answer our prayers, just sometimes He answers in ways you aren’t expecting. Part of the way that God answers your prayers is in His perfect timing, which brings us to this morning’s message.

This morning, we are looking at why God delays in answering your prayers. When it comes to understanding God’s will, the when is just as important as the what and how.

Oswald Chambers, author of My Utmost for His Highest, writes that most believers become too focused on the destination, and they forget that God is actually more intertested in the journey. Which brings us to our first reason God delays

1. God is changing our desires and motives

Luke 11:2 NLT

Jesus said, “This is how you should pray: “Father, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon.

in the Lord’s prayer, Jesus teaches us two major themes that should come out in our prayers. First, whatever we are praying should ultimately glorify God. Secondly, it must advance God’s kingdom.

last week we looked at James 4:3

James 4:3 NLT

And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.

so part of the delay that happens in our prayers is that God is doing a work in our hearts and changing the desires and motives. It is not necessarily that what we are praying is bad or wrong, but the reasons for wanting the prayer answered may be wrong. In the God’s kingdom, the ends do not justify the means; God is concered about both.

But there is a third thing that Jesus taught about our prayers

Luke 11:11–13 NLT

“You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

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the third thing that Jesus tells us is that God will not answer prayers that ultimately hurt us. As we said last week, God’s perfect wisdom knows how certain answers are going to play out, and even the consequences of the timing of answered prayer. God will delay in asnwering prayer so that He can do a work in our heart, both with our desires and our motives

2. God is waiting for us to listen for instruction

Matthew 4:4 NLT

But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

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the important thing to remember from this passage is that God is continually speaking to us. Yes we have the bible canonized, but the canon of scripture defines for us the moral and redemptive truths that you need. The relational and directional interaction we need from the Lord continues to flow today.

one of the issues that comes up a lot in the Western church. We are good with reading the word and understanding the moral implications of what is written. We understand that we need to pray to God for our needs. But sometimes the answer you are looking for requires action on your part, and the Holy Spirit is trying give you direction, and you are not hearing it.

3. There is an unseen battle taking place

Daniel 10:12–14 NLT

Then he said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia. Now I am here to explain what will happen to your people in the future, for this vision concerns a time yet to come.”

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this story in Daniel is a good reminder that there is more going on then meets the eye. There are spiritual forces at work all around us, and some of these forces are trying to thwart the kingdom of God. In Daniel’s case, he prayed 21 days for an answer.

we may never fully understand what is all happening in this story, and that is OK. God never said He would reveal all truth in this life, only in the next. But we get these little glimpses into the supernatural, a reminder that our battle truly is not against flesh and blood but the powers and principalities of this dark world.

4. God is merciful

2 Peter 3:4–9 NLT

They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.” They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed. But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

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Peter is touching on the fact that the world continues to be wicked, and wicked people will point this out as a way to show that God isn’t really at work. If God is good, why isn’t He doing anything about what’s going?

Because the justice the world often calls for is swift and final, and God’s desire is that everyone would repent. You don’t get to repent when you’re dead. You have had a lifetime of God’s goodness being witnessed to you from every direction. Even the perceived delay is really an act of mercy from a loving God.

5. There is sin in the camp

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in Joshua 7, we read about Israel’s first big defeat in battle. I would encourage you to read the story for yourself, but here are the cliff notes. Joshua and the army of Israel have destroyed Jericho, which is no small task. Jericho was a border city, built to be imprenetable as the first line of defense for the rest of the cities. By comparison, the city of Ai is small. What the army doesn’t realize is that Achan, one of the men from Israel, has taken items that God forbid Israel to take, and as a result, his sin brings about Israel’s first military defeat.

Once the sin is dealt with, Israel marches up and easily defeats Ai.

Last week we saw that sin sometimes prevents our prayers from being answered. This morning it is the same idea, but merely delaying the answer instead of completely negating the prayer.

Sin gets in the way of our answered prayer

6. God is testing us

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For this, we look at the story of Joseph in Genesis. We first meet Joseph in Genesis 37 where God is giving this young bold dreams, dreams that make him really unpopular with his brothers.

Here is where the tests begin. First Joseph’s brothers throw him into an empty well. They then sell him to some traveling salemen. Joseph is sold to a high ranking officer in Egypt, where he promptly accused of making advances towards the officials wife and thrown into prison. Joseph spends a lot of time in prision, unjustly, until he is finally released.

All of these stages were tests. As outsiders reading the story, we can see the way the God is preparing Joseph to not only save Egypt, but his own family. But in the moment, each of these could’ve easily broken him. If God has given me this dream, then why am I going through this?

The biggest test actually came when his brothers arrived looking for food. Joseph is the highest ranking official in all of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh. He could’ve had his brothers killed for everything they put his through and no one would’ve questioned it.

Instead, he sees that God was working things out to save both nations.

Sometimes we are going through trials and tribulations to refine us and strengthen us.

There are others

this list is by no means exhaustive and is not meant to be. The point is back where we started. Isa 55:9

Isaiah 55:9 NLT

For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

You serve a God that is operating on a level that you cannot begin to fathom. But the important thing to remember is that God loves you and desires good things for you! He loved you enough to send Jesus into the world to die for you and take away your sins. Your Heavenly Father’s goodness didn’t just dry up in that one act. He continues to love, continues to desire good things for you, and He wants to answer your prayers. But in that, He is wise enough to know when to say no, and when to say, “Just wait.” Remember,

Romans 8:28 NLT

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

So church

Luke 18:1 NLT

One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.

don’t stop praying. Don’t give up. Keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking, and watch the things the Lord is going to do for you.

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Let’s Pray

1. What stood out to you from the message?

2. Is there something you’ve been praying for? Does one of these reasons for delay connect with your prayer request?

3. Is there something you stopped praying for? Why did you stop? Would you start praying for it again?