When God Makes Us Wait

Sam Pollard, a twenty-four year old missionary in China, was planning to have a 10-day meeting. He preceded this meeting with seven days of prayer and then a day of fasting and a night of prayer. At the end of that time, God promised Him thousands of souls. He wrote to a friend, “People may say I’m foolish, but I’ll have my thousands.

Pollard did have his thousands — but not in his next meeting. Yet Pollard kept believing God’s promise and kept on working even though thousands did not come during that week of meetings.

Sixteen years later, a whole tribe, thousands of people, welcomed his message, and in God’s time, He had God’s answer.

Often we can’t see God at work. We think He’s ignoring our requests and long for some outward sign indicating that our prayers are heard.

We may pray about a problem, but to believe He will answer and to depend on no one but God to remedy our situation when we have no evidence He is answering—now that’s a different story.

E.M. Bounds said, “It is comparatively easy to wait upon God; but to wait upon Him only, is I suspect, a difficult and rare attainment.” Yet God longs to give us our hearts’ desires if we truly look to Him. Too often though we look to Him in prayer, but when we leave the place of prayer, we also leave our dependence upon Him to work. In His time, He will work; He will do all we trust Him to do.

Dear Jesus, help me to fully trust You to answer my prayers even when my expectations are not met.

“My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him” (Psalm 62:5.)