I’m sure it has happened to all of us in some way. Maybe it was a flight or something you were waiting to happen. Most of us don’t like delays. I know I don't. I like things to go as planned. Delays are often unexpected and unplanned.
There are times that God answers our prayers with a delay. It isn’t a yes or no answer but just a delay.
The problem we have with this is that He doesn’t tell us that it is a delay. It sure would be nice if He would. I know it would calm me down.
Too many times I make the mistake of assuming an unanswered prayer as being a “no” when it is really more of a delay.
With God it is about timing. Sure, He can do whatever He wants whenever He wants to do it but He’s not going to force us to do anything we don’t want to do. In our lives, His will works through people and circumstances.
When I was unexpectedly released from my previous job, I reached out to a contact in another company. I was sure it was going to work out and it seemed like the situation was going to be resolved but they kept delaying things. I got really frustrated and panicked a bit over it. Right before they decided to take action, another job recruiter called me and I eventually ended up being hired by another company and for a much higher salary than I had expected.
The delay was God’s timing to line up the situation for me.
This wasn't the first time that God’s delay ended up being an answered prayer for me.
It usually isn’t until after you’ve been through something like this that you can look back on it and see that it was a divine delay.
God’s timing is very important and we must have a strong faith and extreme patience to hold on during the delays. It’s not always easy but it is amazing when you have remained faith and rewarded.
I can’t tell you how many times I have gotten impatient and tried to force things to work in my own way. The result has been that I messed things up and it either took way longer or I missed out completely. We can definitely mess up God’s plan to answer our prayers. Although He can fix our mess, it would be better if we do a better job to let Him do it.
I still remember many years ago when I was trying to get into my current career field, I interviewed but one of the supervisors told me point blank that I wasn’t going to get the job. I was crushed. I went home totally devastated. However, when I went into the office the next day our agency had a hiring freeze and I eventually got the position months later when the freeze was lifted.
These and other examples are not mere coincidences, it is God working in my life. I am nobody special. I’m not a preacher or claim to have any special insight to God. I just pray and trust Him to work things out. He always works it out. Sometimes it may not seem like He does but it takes faith whether we ever see the results or not.
Delays aren't fun but sometimes necessary for God to put things into place to get us to where we need to be.
