Have you ever tried to sit and watch a seed sprout? You can’t, can you? It stays in the ground until the time is right for it to emerge. There’s a lesson here. God has planted certain things within you, and you must wait for them to take root and grow. And the unresolved issues of your past can undermine this process. Often it takes prayer and counselling to bring these issues to the surface so that you can effectively deal with them. With God, a delay is not a denial. When speaking to Job, his friend Elihu said, ‘It is wrong to say God doesn’t listen, to say the Almighty isn’t concerned. You say you can’t see him, but he will bring justice if you will only wait’ (vv. 13-14 NLT). What great advice! Charles Trumbull said, ‘God knows when to withhold or grant visible signs of encouragement. It’s good when He sends confirmation, but we grow faster when we’ve trusted Him without it. Those who do, always receive the greatest visible evidence of His love.’ God answers every prayer; it’s just that across some He writes, ‘The time is not right yet.’ Job asks, ‘How long will this trial last? Why doesn’t God answer?’ Because it takes as long as it takes - and usually feels uncomfortable the whole time. But there’s good news. Eventually your prayers become less about getting answers and more about connecting with God. By letting Him work: 1) you begin to realise that He is with you; 2) you develop a deeper level of intimacy with Him; 3) you discover you can trust Him for the entire trip.
Prov 13-15, 1 Cor 14:20-40
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