January 11
Delay vs Denial
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength. ––Isaiah 40:30-31, NKJV
Delayed answers to prayer are not only trials of faith; they also give us opportunities to honor God through our steadfast confidence in Him, even when facing the apparent denial of our request. ––Charles H. Spurgeon
I was a student at UCLA during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. For about six months leading up to the Games the news kept saying, “Everyone needs to get out of LA during the Olympics because the freeways are going to be like parking lots!” I guess everyone listened because the freeways were completely empty during those glorious three weeks. I mean, you could drive down the 405 from Westwood to LAX in about 20 minutes. (That drive can take an hour or more in rush hour.)
Though I don’t think the media’s warnings about impending Carmageddon leading up to the ’84 Games were intentional reverse psychology, that’s exactly what transpired: Everyone left town to avoid the crowds … so there were no crowds. Folks in the Southland are notoriously impatient, particularly when it pertains to traffic. We hate traffic delays—well, delays of any kind.
That no-traffic phenomenon of LA ’84 reminds me of how much we as believers hate delays as well. The enemy is kinda like that misinformed news anchor telling us to avoid the delays at all cost. The difference, of course, is that the enemy deceives us on purpose. But here’s the reality:
Don’t mistake a divine delay for a denial from God.
Because that’s often what we do: God’s timing doesn’t align with our expectations, so we think He’s shut the door. Instead, God often uses chronos time to execute His kairos timing to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. Just as you can’t rush the fermentation process of a fine wine, God often takes His time in growing us up into the person He wants us to be. Hebrews tells us:
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. ––Hebrews 12:11
We want things now; God wants things right. We desire things to be perfect; God is perfect and desires us to trust His timing. We strive to control; God wants us to relinquish control of our striving.
What “thing” or outcome have you been waiting for? Come to the altar today and hand it over to God—lay it down at the altar. God may not deliver according to our timing, but when we trust His timing, He always delivers.
Father, I don’t like to wait—help me become more patient and trusting of You, and the fact that Your timing is always perfect.