Unanswered Petitions: Be Content To Wait For The Lord's Timing

Oh, the delay of unanswered prayers! Our petitions can often feel as if they do not pierce heaven but rather fall on deaf ears. We pray, and pray, and pray and still no answer, no clear direction, no feeling of standing firm in God’s will, mature and fully assured. Steady yourself saint, we can rest assured that our prayers have been heard and are fully recorded in the heavens by the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. Unanswered petitions are not necessarily “No’s” rather “Wait’s” – and waiting is never easy, Amen? His timing and our timing are rarely the same yet we can be confident that He is working in the wait whether we can perceive that or not. Our simply continuing to do the next right thing for His glory and for our good is the will of God until He changes our course even though our answered prayers sometimes lingers. Great faith is often tested by long delays. And the heavens can remain as rock hard as cement. We knock and knock by our prayers yet they appear unanswered.        
We must learn to wait patiently for His reply. If it pleases Him to test our patience and our trust in Him, we persevere in prayer knowing He only allows what is good for the saint. His timing is always perfect. Every good parent knows what to give and what to withhold from their children for their best, how much more so the Lord of hosts. We must be careful not to take unanswered petitions as denials and allow self or Satan to shake our confidence in the God of all creation. Unanswered prayers are not unheard nor unrecorded in the heavens. He keeps our “tears are in a bottle” and our “groans” are all recorded. In due time He will remove our “sackcloth” and “garments of despair” and place on us the “fine linen” of full fruition. We are to wait on the Lord and keep His way and in His perfect timing He makes all things clear. Also, His “No’s” or “Waits” in our prayers are always, always for a far greater “Yes”. He has our best interest at heart and He knows what is best for His child even if it goes against our wishes and our understanding. Remember, He “makes known the end from the beginning, from ancient times what is to come” as the Prophet Isaiah tells us. We can trust Him with our lives and with the lives of all we hold dear.