God's Delays Do Not Equal God's Denials

Over the last several months I've been meditating and teaching upon the subject of prayer. One of the great challenges in prayer is our experience of delays in God's answers. As I was preparing for the Advent Season, I came upon this verse in the book of Luke: But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John (Luke 1:13)."

As you may know, Zechariah (John the Baptist's father) had been selected to offer sacrifices in the Temple. It was a unique, once in a lifetime privilege for a priest to be selected for this task. While fulfilling that role, an angel told Zechariah that his prayers had been heard. Which prayer was the angel referring to?

I don't think that Zechariah was, at that moment, praying for a son to be born to him. Zechariah had a priestly role to fill and was almost certainly interceding for the Jewish nation, not for his own personal situation. In addition, Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth, were past their childbearing years. In the history of Israel only one other couple, Abraham and Sarah, had given birth to children when they were past their childbearing years.

Which prayer was the angel of God referring to when he said: Your prayer has been heard, Zechariah? I believe the prayers that were heard were the prayers that Zechariah and Elizabeth had prayed years before and then forgot about or gave up on.

There are many prayers that you and I have forgotten about or have given up on. Perhaps you've prayed continually for a healing to take place, a loved one to be saved, a child to be born, a ministry door to be opened, a partner to marry, a person to be converted, but God didn't appear to answer your prayers. So you moved on. Many times, moving on is a very healthy thing to do. We cannot obsess about what we don't have. Sometimes we need to say: "Well, this one is just one of those answers that God, in his infinite wisdom and freedom, has chosen to withhold from me. I'm still called to love God anyway, to be content in all circumstances, and to love other people. Whether my prayer is answered, I'm still called to a place of meaningful service to God."

But God's delays do not necessarily mean God's denials. God sometimes answers prayers that you and I have stopped praying. In fact, God sometimes answers prayers that we have entirely forgotten about. God can dig out a prayer that you prayed 20, 30, or even 40 years ago and say to you: "Surprise! I'm now going to answer your prayer. You may have forgotten, but I haven't forgotten."

Have you ever been overwhelmed by the thought that a blessing has come into your life simply because another person prayed for that blessing years before? I personally believe that virtually every one of us is a follower of Jesus Christ right now because someone prayed us in-a mother, a father, a grandparent, a pastor, a friend, a spouse, a Sunday school teacher-someone else prayed us in!

I was raised in a Jewish family. I had no Christian contact. But I remember that when I was ten years old my parents went away on vacation for a couple of weeks. They left my sisters and me in the care of an elderly African American woman, who I just adored. Her name was Coretta. She was a great cook and a consistent disciplinarian.

There was one thing that stood out about Coretta-she was the first person I ever saw read the Bible. She read the Bible every morning and every night. She sat in her chair in her bedroom with her open bible, praying. One day I heard Coretta praying for me. Then seven or eight years later I met Marlene and she prayed for me every day for seven months until I came to Christ. God's delays are not his denials. God remembered Coretta's prayers in my life, and he remembered Marlene's prayers.

Several years ago an eighty year old grandmother came to Christ at the church. Her daughter beamed with excitement. She hugged me and said, "Rich, this is absolutely unbelievable!" I said to the daughter, "You've been asking the Lord for a long time for this, haven't you?" She said, "I can't tell you how many times I've prayed for this moment. And now, finally, I've gotten to see with my own eyes, my mother receiving Christ."

Let me share with you a note I recently received from a member of our congregation:

You may have forgotten a prayer that you prayed years ago. You may have given up about praying for something. But God does not forget any one of your prayers. God's delays do not mean God's denials.