It is strange to think that even when dealing with God, we must wait sometimes. We tend to question how this is even possible because we know Him to be All-powerful. Can’t God do whatever He wants, whenever He wants, and with whomever He wants to? I once thought that the word ‘wait’ would be out of the equation when dealing with God, because He is an Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent God. Therefore, since He is Sovereign, then why does He make us wait on Him for certain things?
When it comes to God, I have learned that when I ask Him for something, I must wait for His answer. The answer might be a yes, no, or not yet, but still, I need to wait on Him. Please, don’t get me wrong, I am so grateful that all I have to do is wait for an answer and not have to labor for it.
The concept of waiting applies to any relationship. For instance, sometimes when you call a friend, you have to wait for a call back or a reply to an email, etc. Other times, we wait a while for a response from someone, and the answer is not what we were expecting. However, we still had to wait for a response, and the same principle applies in our relationship with God. I have learned the hard way that when we fail to wait on the Lord, we create an even bigger mess than the predicament we are in. In many instances, the answers I got from God were a yes, but it seemed like it took an eternity for the answer to come through or the unfolding of a promise. Therefore, the question is, if the answer was a yes from the time I prayed, then why did I need to wait? A common answer to that question is that we wait because God, at times, holds our blessings if we are not ready for them or if they are not available to us now. However, there is more to it. You see, one of the gazillion things I love about God is the fact that He is honest with us. And God’s honesty toward us doesn’t make Him less of a God. For example, Jesus came to this world and proclaimed His Father’s good news and also said that He is King of kings. Yet Jesus had no problem letting the whole world know that before they arrested Him, His soul was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. He even prayed to His Father to take this cup away from Him if it were possible. And that same Jesus suffered and died on a cross shamefully and warned us before His death that things are not going to be easy. Another example is Daniel, who humbled himself and prayed to God to gain understanding. The angel who was sent with his answers was resisted for twenty-one days by the prince of the Persian kingdom (Daniel 10:4-14). One can easily question how such a powerful God couldn’t even prevent the angel from being held captive by the prince of the Persian kingdom in the first place. However, what we need to focus on is the fact that in both scenarios, God never asks anyone for help. He Himself dealt with it. It took until after Jesus’ resurrection for the truth to be revealed, and it took more than 21 days for Daniel to get his answers, yet everything was according to God’s timing. The unseen battles that Daniel knew nothing about while he was waiting for his answer, and the way God wanted to be glorified in the story despite His opponent. No wonder Jesus talked about persistent prayer. Why do we even need to be persistent in our prayers if God is all-powerful? One important thing we need to understand is that the reason why God even allows Satan to remain in existence is because He is All-powerful. God already knows He will win the war in the end, just like He predicted about Jesus’ death and resurrection, and everything happened according to plan. And that says a lot about God’s Character and Sovereignty.
You see, all our ancestors who have walked with God understood who God is. They preached the good news of the gospel to others from generation to generation. They understood God’s love and power without God having to force, manipulate, or threaten them to discover who He is, and that’s how God operates. He doesn’t panic about anything because He is who He is. Even in the years when His own people rebelled against Him, they always found themselves crying out to God for help without God having to come down and hold a knife against their necks. Nothing in life can catch God by surprise, and He will use whatever route we take and the times when we allow the enemy to cause us to run away from Him to bring about His purpose for our lives. When we make mistakes, it is as if God is saying, “I will use even your mistakes to bring Me glory in a juicier way”. And it is the same style He uses with the forces of darkness. Have you noticed that the harder your enemies go against you, the more God blesses you. God will not manipulate, force, threaten, or go back and forth with the enemy to prove His Power; that’s not this style.
It is so fascinating to me that when Satan got kicked out of heaven, God did not remove his talents from him. God has allowed Satan to do things to a certain extent. We must also remember that it is God who gave humankind the freedom to choose between good and evil. That same God has allowed Satan to be the prince of the air ever since Adam gave his dominion to him. God wants to redeem the world from sin, but He wants to have a fair fight with the enemy. All eyes shall see who the boss really is (an example for this would be the conversation between God and Satan about Job), knowing that our free will cannot thwart His plan, and that includes Satan’s agenda.
When God says that every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord, does that also include Satan? The Bible says that at Jesus’s second coming, all eyes shall see Him, even those who pierced Him. This means all eyes, including the eyes of the main culprit who influenced those who pierced Jesus. Make no mistake about it, God allows the enemy to do things not because He is weak but because He is Sovereign and He knows what He is doing. Therefore, we cannot negate the fact that a word coming from God’s mouth to be fulfilled on earth can sometimes be delayed due to spiritual forces fighting against that word before it gets to us. This can be viewed on your end and, according to your calendar, as a waiting period. However, that doesn’t mean God is powerless or that He needs help; that’s how we often try to help God by taking matters into our own hands. Let us remember Daniel and, most importantly, Jesus, and continue to believe that God’s word cannot return to Him void, but sometimes we need to wait on Him because He sees what we cannot see. And when the time is right, with no human’s help, God Himself will clear out the way, even if He must send plagues to deliver His children, because God cannot fail.
Always remember the Lord your God is Sovereign!
SCRIPTURES
“Then the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh and say, Will I really have a child, now that I am old? Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.’” Genesis 18:13-14
“I say to myself, the Lord is my portion; therefore, I will wait on Him. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” Lamentations 3:24-26
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