You’ve been in prayer, repented of your sins, you are pleading with God very selflessly with faith, and nothing has been happening. Yes, it can be so frustrating. A friend of mine used to ask God if He was on a coffee break or something, because He wasn’t finding the urgency in a situation she was.
Probably most of us have felt this way. Simply put, God does not work on our time. “…with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Peter 3:8). Our time often reflects impatience and/or selfish motive. If you have learned anything about God, you probably have figured out, He’s patient! If you haven’t learned patience, He’ll be happy to teach it to you.
His ways are also perfect. I think it’s easy to forget that we only see a fraction of any situation. We don’t know better than God does. You might recall from Isaiah 40:22 the inhabitants of the earth described as grasshoppers. We are so inferior to our Creator of heaven and earth. We need a good reminder every now and then that we don’t have the answers. We may never have all the answers. We have to trust that the Lord loves us and His will is the right one. He sees the big picture that we can’t. He works supernaturally.
When you are feeling that your prayer is not significant to God, please don’t lose heart. God doesn’t always answer in our timing nor does he usually answer the way we expect.
“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)
His ways are certainly great and are worthy of glory and our praises. I think it would blow us away if someday the Lord would show us even a glimpse of what He does for us when we’re in prayer. Though our prayers don’t always get answered the way we hope, knowing that He wants well for us and has promised us much in His word brings me great pleasure to serve Him.
There is a song that is sung by the Newsboys on their Adoration CD. The lyrics of their song “Lord (I Don’t Know)” come to mind.
You are the author of knowledge
You can redeem what’s been done
You hold the present and all that’s to come
Until your everlasting kingdom
Lord, I don’t know where all this is going
Or how it all works out
Lead me to peace that is past understanding
A peace beyond all doubt
You are the God of tomorrow
Turning the darkness to dawn
Lifting the hopeless with hope to go on
You are the rock of all salvation
Lord, I don’t know where all this is going
Or how it all works out
Lead me to peace that is past understanding
A peace beyond all doubt
Oh, Lord, you are the author
Redeeming what’s been done
You hold us in the present
And all that is to come
Lord, we don’t know where all this is going
Or how it all works out
Lead us to peace that is past understanding
A peace beyond all doubt
Lyrics courtesy of ChristianLyricsOnline.com
Scripture references are quoted from the NKJV.