People
say it all the time…
You heard
it said to you when you asked someone something.
Admit it;
you’ve even said it yourself to someone else in an attempt to pacify the
request and continue to do whatever it is that is (seemingly) more important at
the time.
“Just A Minute”
Then,
one-minute turns to five which turns to ten and so forth…
And our
requests (seemingly) fall on deaf ears
And we
learn to be cynical and not believe each other’s words. We assume that they
won’t really follow through on what they say they will do.
And,
worst of, we make the assumption that this is how God answers us.
After
all, the Bible says; “But, beloved, do not
forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
We reason that God takes HIS time (not ours) to get back to
us.
But I want to assure you that just because people treat each
other like that, God doesn’t. In fact, it might surprise you that He answers more
quickly that we might imagine.
In Matthew 6:8, Jesus tells us that God the Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
King David said in Psalm 139:4 “You know
what I am going to say even before
I say it, Lord.”
Isaiah prophesied (spoke for the LORD); “I
will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still
talking about their needs, I
will go ahead and answer their prayers!”
Wow; I would say that is faster that our lame answer; ““Just A Minute”
My
favorite Bible passage that shows just how quickly God answers comes from the
Book of Daniel chapter ten. I like it because it also gives insight as to why
(sometimes) we can’t see the answer from God.
Daniel
needed some direction from the Lord and set aside some time to pray, and he saw
a vision. The passage tells us that he had been in mourning for three whole weeks, during which time he had
eaten no rich food, nor had he drunk wine, nor had he used any fragrant lotions
until those three weeks had passed.
In the
vision, Daniel is told some things that we can take away and apply to our lives
as we ponder whether or not the Lord answers us quickly.
First of
all, God sends someone to talk to Daniel to let him know that God has heard his
request.
Secondly, this angel tells Daniel that God sent him to tell
Daniel God’s answer, but the prince of the kingdom of Persia
withstood the angel for twenty-one days. In other words, Daniel couldn’t get
the answer because of the opposition that was stopping the answer from coming
through.
Thirdly, the angel tells Daniel that
the Lord dispatched Michael to fight the resistance and made a way for the
angel to break through the enemy’s lines and get the answer to Daniel.
Fourthly, (and this is my favorite insight) the angel tells
Daniel that from the first day he set his heart to seek the Lord, God
dispatched the answer.
One version says, “the moment you decided to humble yourself
to receive understanding, your prayer was heard”. I like that!
God is saying; “I didn’t wait until you fasted and prayed
twenty-one days to answer you. I didn’t even wait until you had spent a whole
day in prayer. I sent the answer when you said to yourself, “I’ve got to seek
the Lord.”
The Lord told one of His angels to
go and tell Daniel that his prayer was answered the moment Daniel began to
pray; but an evil angel met God’s angel and wrestled with him, blocking him
from getting to Daniel.
God wasn’t saying; “Just a minute…”
No, there was a conflict in the
heavens taking place even though Daniel couldn’t see it. Satan hindered God’s
answer to Daniel for three full weeks.
The Bible tells us that "we are
not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and
authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and
against evil spirits in the heavenly places."
(Ephesians 6:12).
Today, call out to God, knowing that
He hears your cry even before you ask Him. He is a loving Father who longs to
care for you. He won’t forsake you. He won’t tell you; “Just a minute”.
