Answers to Prayer

God knows the best way to answer our prayers, and He also knows the best time to answer them.  If our Lord delays to answer us, it is for a good reason.  Why does He delay at times?  The Puritan Richard Sibbes gave a thoughtful answer to that question: “There are several reasons why the Lord delays to help us. (1.) That our faith and dependence on him might be better tested.  Christ refused to answer the Canaanite woman’s plea for help.  She had come to Christ because her daughter was possessed by a demon.  The Lord put her off that he might display her faith to us forever (Matthew 15:28).  (2.) Sometimes he delays in order to humble us.  ‘God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble’ (James 4:6).  Until we are nothing in our own eyes, God delays to help us.  The Lord took away Paul’s hope of life (2 Corinthians 1:9), that he might know the only place to find help and comfort in all his extremities.  (3.) God delays and puts off our requests to enhance the value of the gift.  We highly prize that which costs us dear.  God delays his gifts that we may know their true price.”