When does God delay answers to prayer?
Have you ever thought of the prayers in the Bible that God delayed answering and why he delayed the answer?
1. Daniel 11 – In this case, the delay was a vital part of Daniel’s prophecy. God delayed to confirm that the kingdom of Greece would follow the kingdom of Persia.
2. Matthew 15:23 - We find that Jesus at first did not answer the Syrophoenician woman’s prayer but again there was a purpose. Jesus (as well Matthew and Mark in their gospels) used this situation to show the difference between outward and inner righteousness.
3. Psalm 13, David asks four times, how long? There is no answer given in the Psalm but we do find that David continued to pray anyway and expressed confidence and joy in the Lord because he knew God personally as a merciful God.
4. Psalm 89:46, Ethan also asks “how long” but in this case knows that the reason is based on Israel’s unfaithfulness. See also Deuteronomy 32:19 and Zechariah 1:12ff.
5. Job 13:24, Job expresses in this chapter the same sentiments as David did in Psalm 13 but unlike Ethan in Psalm 89, he is not certain why he is not being heard but is simply speculating.
6. Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 had his answer denied or at least delayed until after his death when his thorn in the flesh certainly was removed. Why? That God’s strength would be made perfect in weakness.
7. Revelation 6:9-11 – The martyred saints’ answer to their prayer is to be delayed until the last saint is martyred.
8. There may be others. Can you think of any?
arm5 said
The reason why he doesn’t answer prayers right away is beccause he wants to have a total dependency on him. And we also have a tendency to put a time limit upon him to answer prayers.
Jack said
How do you know that you are receiving a delayed response.
roberttalley said
We don’t know that we are receiving a delayed response. One of the best examples of this is Job. He had no assurance that God would respond. In fact, that was the basis of much of his complaint against God.
khia gray said
we don’t know that we are receving god to answer our prayer’s and
we need to talk to him in a quite place ………. when i was 11 years
old i use to pray to god if i can help people and kid’s with there stuff
and i did because it took him time