We live in an era of "instant” and "fast”, most of the time we want God to work like that when it comes to answering our prayers. When God delays to answer prayers, many have at times felt disappointed and frustrated.
The Bible tells the story of Zechariah, who was very old and whose wife, Elizabeth, could not have children. The angel Gabriel visited him and said, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard.” (Luke 1:13 NIV).
Gabriel went on to say that Elizabeth would give birth to a son who would eventually "make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Then Zechariah said in verse 18, "How can I be sure of this?” He was the ultimate sceptic. Why didn’t he believe it?
Because he had stopped praying for that years before. If you read the passage informally, it looks like, "He went into the Temple. He prayed. And the angel came and said, ‘Your prayer’s been answered.’ The fact of the matter is, he had given up on this prayer years earlier. Yet God had heard Zechariah’s cries.
Pastor Rick Warren, the author of the best-seller "The Purpose-Driven Life”, notes that God answers our prayers immediately, but sometimes, there’s a delay in the giving of the gift.
He notes that this is because He wants to change you first. God is more interested in making you mature than He is in making life easy. After you’ve learned the right attitude, then God’s free to go to work on the problem.
If God is so good and loves you so much, why are there so many delays?
Sin stops prayer from being answered. God will not answer the prayer of a believer if they are in a state of perpetual, unrepentant sin. 1 Peter 3:12 NIV says, "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
"This may sound obvious or even cruel, but God has no obligation to answer the prayers of unbelievers, He may answer, but He has not obligated Himself to do so, says Wayne Stiles, the author of "Walking in the footsteps of Jesus”.
He bases his response on Psalms 34:15 that clearly states that the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry.
Stiles carries on that our motives in prayer may delay answers. It may seem simplistic, but if we don’t ask, God won’t answer. And when we do pray, our reasons for asking must not be selfish (James 4:3 states, " When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.)
According to Stiles, your actions in life towards others may delay your response. Our actions also can hinder God’s answer. If you are flagrantly disobedient to God, you may expect your prayers to be hindered.
He also explains that God has a will too, but not all aspects of His will are of equal priority. God desires, first and foremost that glory. God desires all people have a choice about the decisions they make.
God also desires people to live a reasonably happy life while here on earth. Your problems with prayer often come when you think the first thing on God’s mind is your happiness and not His glory.
Stiles further notes that you don’t lose heart because it may be that circumstances require changing before you can accept the answer. It may be that the answer depends on someone else responding to God too (remember God’s order of priorities), or it may be that the delay is to see how seriously you are willing to pray.