PRAY AND WAIT

(7-minute read)

In the early days, believers were taught to have open conversations with each other and to support each other in prayer for powerful and effective living (James 5:16). Sadly today, we forget that conversations involve talking and listening: not just typing on our devices and reading text off them .

“Show me how to pray about my situation using Scripture references from the book of Psalms.”

You are forgiven if you think the above is a request from one person to another asking for guidance on prayer. It is actually a query sent to ChatGPT. In one second flat, the query produced a 5-point guide with verses from the book of Psalm and ends with the final point ‘Trusting God’s Timing’. It uses a conversational language style and tells the reader to ‘feel free to personalize the prayers according to your specific situation and emotions’. ChatGPT (as the name suggests) responds like a person sitting right there with you. Except that it is only text. Today, we rely primarily on text messaging to stay in touch with each other. As we talk less and text more, we are in great danger of losing the interpersonal human touch so important for spiritual fellowship to thrive. This spills over to our relationship with God when our prayers become ritualistic and mechanical. Instead of developing a relational language with God, we pray like sending a query to Him for a quick and detailed output. 

Luke 1:13-17 tells us that when an angel of God appeared to Zechariah, his first words were, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard.’ The angel emphasized that God heard Zechariah’s prayer, and he simply could not contain himself in the process of telling Zachariah about the child that his wife, Elizabeth, would conceive with him. Although there was no mention when Zechariah prayed that prayer, he had evidently spoken to God about his childlessness and God had heard him in the first instance. 

IT IS ABOUT GOD’S TIMING

The angel’s appearance to Zachariah, when both he and his wife were well advanced in age, was not the result of poor timing. Humanly speaking though, it seemed almost incongruent when the angel enthused, “I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was he who sent me to bring you this good news!” (Luke 1:19).

However, let’s not forget that God always has a narrative that is larger than our personal biographies. While He rewards our waiting by giving us the desires of our hearts, it does not stop there. 

The first part of the angel’s pronouncement of good news to Zechariah was deeply personal. Make no mistake, God knows how to make dreams come true in spectacular ways! About the child that Zechariah and Elizabeth would soon be holding, the angel said, ‘He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.’ (Luke 1:14-15). How’s that for pride and joy in their old age?

The second part of the angel’s announcement gave a picture of the child’s God-given life mission: ‘He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’ (Luke 1:16-17).

If God seems to be taking too long to respond to you, if He seems too quiet and too distant, if He doesn't act according to your requests, don’t entertain any thoughts that He is ineffective or acting unloving towards you. He is more in tune with your desires than you can ever imagine, but His plans are also not siloed around your life alone.

Use this time to start having real conversations with God (not Christian-sounding mumbo jumbo). Any stonewalling and silent treatment towards God will only make it harder for you to hold on to Him and His promises. On the other hand, changing your conversations with God through your seasons of waiting will yield more good than you can imagine.

IT IS ABOUT GOD’S AGENDA

God’s agenda is always bigger than our personal problems and issues. We are called to be the salt and light to the world, and not to ourselves and our tight-knit, self-serving communities. But we can be so excited with the personal fulfillment aspect of answered prayers that we ignore or minimize the larger scope of His plans.

In fact, God’s mission for the yet-to-be-born John the Baptist was so important that the angel Gabriel made sure that Zachariah would not overstate the miracle of conception and forget the instructions for how the child would be raised and what he would do.

But now, since you didn’t believe what I said, you will be silent and unable to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly be fulfilled at the proper time.” (Luke 1:20).

Listen, it’s never about us alone. God always has a larger narrative in every answered prayer. Elizabeth’s womb would carry God’s eternal mission; not just a life-long dream of having a family with her husband. 

Did God give Abraham a promised son so he could keep him away from being exposed to risks? Did Abraham not also sacrifice Isaac because he believed that what came from God was also for God? 

It is selfish to take only the personal benefits of answered prayers, and feign ignorance (play dumb) about the Kingdom thinking behind it that we need to pay attention to. That happens when only the visible conditions and circumstances in our lives change, while the plans of God remain inhibited and concealed.

IT IS ABOUT GOD’S PEOPLE

You may not like to hear this but God is interested in the many unknown people around you. He fulfills His Kingdom purpose through what you go through because your life serves a greater mission than just yourself. You may not naturally go out of your way to strike up a conversation with someone, or make new friends, or keep old acquaintances. You may prefer to keep to yourself and limit your personal involvement in people’s lives, but God always has His heart on the unknown people who are broken and hurting around you. Who are these people?  

Even before John the Baptist was conceived, the angel Gabriel made it clear who he was to reach out to, “He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’ (Luke 1:16-17).

Even Jesus came to offer salvation to all people – people who don’t know Him, people who are not interested in Him, people who think they are demi-gods, and people who are looking for hope and help. Long before the Lord’s birth, God had promised Simeon, a godly man in Jerusalem, that he would meet the Savior before he died. Simeon had his dream-come-true moment when he finally held the infant Jesus in his feeble arms. The Messiah he had expected his entire life now cradled in his arms: “I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people. He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and He is the glory of your people Israel!” (Luke 2:30-32).

As you wait for answers to your prayers, ask the Lord to reveal to you what is upon His heart that He is preparing you for. Your waiting will never be in vain, for at the proper time the Lord will answer your prayers and fulfill His agenda in the lives of His people.

This is a summary and reflection based on a virtual BIR Session held on 9 December 2023.