Why Does God Delay in Answering Prayer Pt. 2

Intro

Last week we started looking at why God delays in answering prayer, and we looked at three reasons

God is changing our desires and motives

The Spirit is waiting for us to listen to instruction

There is an unseen battle happening all around us

I contemplated stopping there, not because there aren’t more, but because any list like this will not be comprehensive. There are numerous reasons why God delays in answering prayer. However, a little clarity can help our faith as we pray, so I have three more reasons this morning I want us to look at.

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.

7. God is working on outside circumstances

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King Saul and David

David has been annointed to be king over Israel, but the current king is still there and David refuses to do harm to the LORD’s annointed

so what happens? David is being tested, as time and time again he has opportunity to kill Saul and end much of his suffering.

Meanwhile, Saul is slowly being removed. As Saul becomes more and more paranoid, he slowly loses soldiers to David’s cause. When Saul dies in battle, he has lost so many of his mighty fighters that his military strength has been reduced and the people are ready for change.

As you are praying for something, part of the praying has the understanding that God is putting things into place.

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