Edmond, Oklahoma
“Give your prayer requests to my husband, he seems to have a direct line to God right now,” shared my friend. And people came to him.
I don’t know if it was because they felt their own petitions unheard? Or if it was because this seemed the quickest way for a fast answer?
We live in a microwave society. Everything must be faster and faster.
I try to be healthy and pack a light lunch with an apple each day, but absentmindedly forget on occasion.My criteria for lunch on those days? A drive-thru window with a short line.
There is even a study that measures drive-thru service time. Wendy’s edges out Taco Bell as the fastest at 129.75 seconds. Who knew!
Patience is not something we revere today.
The internet connection we were happy with a year ago is too slow now. My computer, purchased a few months ago, has already been replaced with a newer model. We carry our cell phones everywhere so we can call or be called anywhere, anytime.
Prayer is the opposite of our society’s ideal of time efficiency.
The thing about prayer is that it often requires the dreaded word, patience.
Not because God is stringing us along.
Not because he is too busy to look into it right now.
Not because we aren’t as important as the next person.
But because he knows what is best for us.
The answer we desire may be better granted in another season.
“Wait.
“Not now.”
The answer we yearn for may not be what we really need, just what we really want.
“No, it would not be best for you in the long run my child.”
The answer we seek may be granted in a way that looks much different than what we had envisioned in our tiny boxes.
“Yes, but look at the extraordinary way I answered it.” Amazing!
Or joyfully, the answer may come quickly. “Yes! I thought you would never ask!”
I was lonely as a young mom in a small town. My busy minister husband was loving, but what I yearned for was a best female friend. I had always had one before and suddenly found myself without. I had many friends and a very special one who was older, but not that bestie.
I prayed and prayed. Within a span of five years he gave me not one but two wonderful friends who are still close friends to this day. And he’s kept me with good friends ever since.
The catch is that he made me wait and rely on him for seven years before giving me the first one.
Prayer.
Patience.
Wait.
Silence.
Granted in abundance.
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Psalms 69:13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in our saving faithfulness.
-David never failed to ask the Lord to answer his prayers. Sometimes he got a yes, sometimes, a no, sometimes a wait. How do you respond to silence which may be an answer of “wait”?
-Be bold enough to ask for what you want, but be humble enough, and patient enough to pray: “Answer me in your own time and in your own way, Lord.”