I remember when I was a child waiting for Christmas to come. Once school was out for the holidays, we had long days at home waiting for the presents to appear under the tree. At our house, we gave each other presents on Christmas Eve and then Christmas morning revealed the “Santa” gifts. One year in my haste for Christmas, I stumbled upon my parents stash where they had hidden away our Christmas presents. Each present already had our names written on them. I decided that I couldn’t wait the three more days until Christmas to discover the treasures that I would be receiving, so I carefully opened each one to discover what was inside and then carefully wrapped them back. That was, perhaps, my worst Christmas. Not only was I disappointed in what had been chosen for me but all the excitement and anticipation of Christmas was gone. On top of that, when Christmas actually arrived, I had to fake excitement and surprise as I opened each gift. I was never again tempted to unwrap a present before its time.

God’s answers to prayers are that way sometimes. It is hard to wait. We want it now and we want it just the way we described it. Two things can happen when we are impatient with God. The first is that we simply decide that God has said “No” to our prayers because we didn’t see evidence quickly and so we stop praying.   When we stop, God often stops the process that was moving toward our answer.

The second thing is that we can run ahead of God and try to engineer our own solution. That typically has disastrous consequences. Before a battle with the Philistines, King Saul was told by the prophet Samuel to go to Gilgal and wait for Samuel to come and present a burnt offering to the Lord so that God might go ahead of them into battle. As the appointed day waned, Saul decided he could no longer wait for Samuel so he himself offered a sacrifice to the Lord, although Saul was not of the priestly tribe.   Just as he finished the sacrifice, Samuel arrived and declared, “What have you done?” asked Samuel. Saul replied, ‘When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Micmash, I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.’ ‘You acted foolishly,’ Samuel said. ‘You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command’” (I Sam. 13:11-14).

Waiting is often required if we want to see our prayers answered. Abraham waited decades after God’s clear promise of a son to see his wife Sara bear their first son Isaac. By the time the prayer was answered, Abraham and Sara both were well beyond the age of reproducing children. However, Abraham continued to believe God regardless of the natural circumstances surrounding the promise.

How do you maintain faith year after year for an answer to a prayer that has not yet come to pass? The answer is that you focus on the unchanging, faithful character of God and the promise he has made rather than focusing on the circumstances or the symptoms. We must choose to trust God rather than our eyes and believe his word rather than the words of Satan who will whisper that God does not keep his Word – at least, not for you. When Satan whispered to Eve that she would not surely die if she ate from the Tree, he essentially said that God does not keep his Word. Saul thought that Samuel had not kept his word so he ran ahead and offered the sacrifice himself. If Saul had waited 30 minutes longer he might have kept his kingdom.

Faith focuses on the promises not the circumstances and we are often forced to wait because God is preparing the way for our answer. Faith believes before a thing happens regardless of the time that is passing or the circumstances we see before us. When Israel crossed the Jordan River and came to Jericho, they were forced to stand on the promise of God that he would give them the land and the city. They faced a walled city full of veteran fighters with men who had little to no combat experience. Then God commanded them to march around the city once a day for six days in silence before he acted. How foolish. How imposing the walls must have seemed. What taunts and jeers they must of heard from those walls.

And yet, God had told Israel that he would give them every place where they set their foot. For six days, they set their feet around Jericho. For six days they marked off their territory in the spiritual realm. For six days they were preparing the victory although they could not see any of that with their natural eyes. On the seventh day, they were told to march around the city seven times, and when the priests blew the ram’s horn the people were to shout and the wall would crumble. By faith they did just that.

Any rational approach to taking the city would have never considered anything like that. It would have seemed utterly foolish. But faith looked at the promise not the circumstances. F.F. Bosworth says, “Faith does not wait for the walls to fall down, faith shouts them down.” In other words, faith is not belief that arises after God has acted but is confidence that arises before he acts, simply standing on his promises.

When you have to wait for answers to your prayers, the focus must be on the promises of God and the character of God who never lies, rather than on the apparent circumstances. A focus on the circumstances gives Satan every opportunity to point out the enormity of the problem before you, rather than the enormity of the God who stands before your problem. Remember…those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. Blessings and may your prayers be answered quickly, but if they are not … continue to stand on the promises of God.