When God Doesn’t Answer Prayers Right Away

Do you have a few prayers that are many years old, while immediate answers come for others?

Have you almost given up praying for someone but something keeps you on your knees?

Maybe you’ve prayed for a family member to overcome addiction or for his/her salvation but nothing seems to happen.

Should you keep praying or give up?

I wonder if the parents of the man who was blind since birth ever gave up praying for their son? In John 9, when Jesus’ disciples saw this same sightless man they asked, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus replied, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

In our case, we say, “What have I done wrong that God is not answering my prayer?”

We might think, The person I’m praying for must need to repent so God’s freed up to make a change in them.

It’s doubtful that either of these scenarios are correct. Instead, as in the blind man’s case, God may be delaying an answer so he is glorified in the greatest and most impactful way.

After Jesus healed the man using spit and a little mud, the former blind man’s neighbors and others who had witnessed him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

This man could now see and people couldn’t believe their eyes!

If this man had been healed as a small child, would it have glorified God as much?

If this man had not been on the streets year after year, begging, where countless travelers saw him, would the miracle have been so profound?

God’s ways are not our ways, and in our persistent prayers, we must trust His timing.

In the blind man’s case, his healing was not only a witness to the people in the neighborhood and his parents, this supernatural opening of a blind man’s eyes was also a neon sign for some Jewish leaders, the Pharisees. It caught their attention! While they tried to find everything wrong with what Jesus did that day, I wondered if a certain Pharisee, and future believer in Yeshua named Nicodemus was there observing? Perhaps the day the blind man’s eyes were open, his spiritual eyes opened as well? It’s fun to imagine a scenario like this.

God is the ultimate multi-tasker. Like in the sport of bowling, he wants to strike the most pins in one roll. That’s why it sometimes takes a little longer to receive an answer to prayer. There’s still work to be done. There’s a story developing. God’s vat of glory is filling up before it spills over.

So keep praying.