WHEN YOU HAVE TO WAIT FOR GOD

Dr. Bukola Williams

The other day I stated that not every opportunity is of God. I explained how the devil has taken advantage of the impatience of many to present them something that looks similar but at the price of compromise. Some looking for fruit of the womb have fallen to the hands of false prophets; many looking for promotion/jobs/admission have gotten them on the altars of compromise using money or their body, and with all these God is never pleased. I concluded by saying we should be wary “lets satan takes advantage of us” (2 Corinthians 2:11). Today, we look at a related teaching, WHEN YOU HAVE TO WAIT FOR GOD.

By this, I do not imply that God is either slow or something for; “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise” (2 Peter 3:9a). Like we have seen, there are anchors of faith; the things which hold faith in place. Without these anchors faith might be “helpless”. We examined LOVE, THE WORD, WORK, PATIENCE AND PRAYER as among the anchors of faith. Today we shall exclusively briefly look at the virtue called patience. James 1:3 urged us “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience”. “That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through FAITH and PATIENCE inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:12). If you want to enjoy the fruits of faith then you must have the virtue of patience. But reverse is the case in our generation when we have been taught that faith is constant “rocket-speed”…the act of waiting has faded away remaining to be replaced by many in their Bibles.

I learnt something from the fig tree encounter in Mark 11:13-22; very powerful! Let us see. When Jesus did not find fruit on the fig tree, He cursed it and moved on. It seemed that, according to Mark, the fig tree did not dry up that same moment. Notice that the cursing took place in verse 14, and it was in verse 21 that Peter was calling Jesus’ attention to the fact that the fig tree He cursed had “finally” withered. And Jesus’ response explained it all; in verse 22, “And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God”. Why was He telling them to have faith? It was because when He cursed the fig tree it seemed like nothing happened immediately to the fig tree…but once He spoke the word, it was settled in the spiritual. I imagine some of them looking back at the tree still looking fresh after Jesus cursed it. But for Him, He said it and moved on to other things. Even when they were returning, Jesus was not bothered about looking for the tree to see whether it had been done. It was Peter and co, perhaps those who doubted that were on the lookout.

I learnt that there are two realms of manifestations for a spoken word, first in the spiritual, and secondly in the physical…and sometimes, the physical might require you to wait… sometimes the physical might seem to delay, but that does not mean those words you said in prayers were never heard. When you said it, something took place in the spiritual, and the time for the spiritual to transmit divine current to the physical to produce evidence is called PATIENCE!  Sometimes it travels fast, sometimes it comes latter, but most importantly, it will come.

In Nehemiah 1, Nehemiah prayed and fasted for God to show him favour before the king. This happened in the month Chisleu (verse 1). And then in Nehemiah 2:1, the king started to show him favour. This was the month Nisan. People often think the favour came the next day. But, look at these; “Chisleu” in Greek means December. Nisan in Greek means “April”. So, it means that he prayed in December, and the answer came in April! I love the way TLB puts it; “”. The question is this; “Did God hear him when he called in prayers in December?” YES. The period between asking and receiving is a time you have to hold on in faith.

Space will fail us to look at Daniel, a man of prayer who prayed in season and out of season. Then one day he was praying and it seemed nothing happened in the physical until after three (3) weeks. Then came an angel and re-confirmed the word of God to Daniel saying, “Daniel, for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard”. Now, let us get back to the question. Did God hear Daniel? YES. When? When he prayed…the first day! It is written, “before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24).

Patience is a virtue that God demonstrates and expects of His children. When a child of God speaks (in prayers or outside prayers), his words are principles in the realms of the spiritual. When you speak, something takes place in the spiritual. And the physical manifestation might have to follow the principle of timing and waiting.

Of course you are not Daniel so you don’t have to put a three week seal on your prayers; you are neither Nehemiah, so it does not have to follow four months for you, but like Job explained, there is perhaps an appointed time before which you may have to wait for visible evidence… “All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come” (Job 14:14b). But know this; once you have said it, He has heard it. And while you wait, do something meaningful with your waiting time. During this time, all you have to do is praise God for who He is, thank Him for all He has done in the past, is doing now, and what He will do including the one in view; confess it, believe it…never allow doubt whisper to you that maybe God did not hear you in the first place. He said before you call He heard. He is not a liar, if He says He heard, He heard.

One more thing, remember, “Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:1, 2). Be sure there is no sin standing in between you and Him. Not even Joshua the high priest could have access to His throne because there was a spotted/filthy garment and the devil stood by to accuse him of that. But as soon as the garment was removed, he had access (Zachariah 3:1, 2)

And then, finally, life is full of many situations calling for attention. Sometimes they clog a man’s life and it seems everything is going slow. Remember what you do when your computer is not responding…you press F5 (Refresh button). The same way, when circumstances of life web you round and it seems no way to go, never hesitate to go back to God and press F5, which means simply reminding Him of what He says He will do, not that He had forgotten but because Himself said, “Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified” (Isaiah 43:26). This faith move of reminder is what I call the Prayer Refresh Button also known as Spiritual F5 Button. Those who don’t use the F5 button when necessary may end up with the F9 button, where F9 means failure. You will not fail!!! God bless you.