When God Delays

I. Introduction: While studying the Psalms I was impressed with the many times that psalmists cried to God for deliverance while their enemies seemed to have an upper hand. They prayed that God would not turn His ear from them and that He would remember them in their trial. The writers had confidence in God yet grieved their condition while waiting for God to answer them. We can learn much when God delays.

[!NOTE] Primary Scripture Reading: Luke 18:1-8

II. Believers are never promised freedom from suffering on earth

A. False promises

1. Many preachers—especially the television evangelists—preach happiness as a reward for faithfulness.
2. “If you are not prospering you must be in sin” or “You are not giving enough”
3. Linking faithfulness to prosperity is as old as the earliest history of the Bible when Job’s friends considered his trials a punishment for sin.
   • John 9:1-2 – Some blamed a man’s blindness on sin
   • Luke 13:1-5 – Sin did not bring disasters on the individuals
   • If obedience to Christ guaranteed prosperity and freedom from suffering and pain, all would be children of God.

B. Our challenge is to be faithful despite our suffering and trials.

III. Sometimes we feel that God does not help us during our trials

A. We can feel abandoned and may cry out, “Why have you forsaken me?”

B. Perhaps we wonder, like the Psalmist in Psalm 73, if we have cleansed our hands in vain.

C. However, we know that God would never forsake us, Hebrews 13:5-6

IV. We become frustrated when God does not answer our cry immediately

A. This causes the believer to ask, “Where are you?”

1. Psalm 43:1-2 – “Why have you cast me off?”
2. Psalm 44:23 – “Why do you sleep, O’ Lord?”
3. Psalm 88:13-14 – “Why do you cast off my soul?”
4. We sing “In His Time” and we must believe it.

V. This leads the enemies of the believer to say, “Where is your God?”

A. Psalm 71:9-11 – Enemies boast

B. Psalm 11:1-3 – How can you tell me to run?

1. The words of the skeptic can seem true when it appears that God is not hearing and answering our prayer.
2. Depression can lead to doubt. Frustration with God can lead to anger.
3. How can God’s delay in answering us benefit us?

VI. Delay challenges the faith of the believer

A. Jim happened to meet the minister on the street one day, and during the conversation told him of all the troubles he had had during the past year. He wound up with: “I tell you right now, preacher, it’s enough to make a man lose his religion.” “Seems to me, Jim,” the minister told him quietly, “it’s enough to make a man use his religion.” Tan, P. L. Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations.

B. Luke 18:1-8: Persistent widow and the judge

1. The reason for this parable is to teach believers to not give up.
   • God is a just and loving Father yet He “bears with us” before answering.
   • It takes faith to continue to pray and hope when it seems as if hope is gone.
2. Rudyard Kipling: “If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone, and so hold on when there is nothing in you except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!” (If) If we will not give up in our time of despair our faith will become stronger

VII. Delay teaches the believer total dependence on God

A. Some consider themselves dependent upon God but when things go against them, they feel that God has forsaken them and they reject Him.

B. Dependence on God must not depend on external factors.

1. It is easy to think yourself dependent upon God when your enemies are lying about your feet, the battles are won, and the treasures are gained.
2. It is harder for you to have faith when the enemy has surrounded you and is closing in for what seems a certain victory.
3. Revelation 20:8-9 – Victory in what appears to be defeat
   • The enemy of God’s people has encircled them
   • When it appears that defeat is certain, God brings victory
   • How many will lose faith and give up before victory?
   • Who will still rely on God when it appears that He is unreliable?

VIII. Delay teaches us not to trust in our power

A. 2 Corinthians 4:7-10 – We do not give up because we rely on God’s power

B. We have to understand that many things are out of our hands and delay reinforces this dependence on God.

IX. Delay teaches the believer hope

A. Romans 5:3-4 – tribulation yields hope

B. Perseverance is not succeeding but trying and failing, without giving up.

1. Character is not a sterling reputation but the excellence that comes from enduring trial when it would be easy to give up or, through deception, trying to escape a trial that one must face.
2. When we have forged strong character through patient endurance, we emerge with a hope for better days and eternal rest from all trials.

C. Romans 8:18-25 – It is suffering that sweetens the taste of heaven!

1. The more we must endure suffering, the less hold the world can have on us.
   • Why should we desire rest for our labor when the work is not hard?
   • Why would we hope for a home in heaven if our home on earth is comfortable enough?
   • Can the promise of “no more sorrows or tears” in heaven mean anything if our hearts are not broken and we suffer no loss on earth?
   • Suffering allows us to see earthly things in their fragility and the greater value of eternal things.
2. Hebrews 6:17-20 – It is the hope that anchors us so we will not drift

X. Conclusion: When you must face trials that seem unending and unrelenting, let it draw you closer to God and teach you lessons you could learn no other way.

XI. CROZIER: Today’s reading is Psalm 44.

XII. If the second segment of Psalm 44 took an unexpected and shocking turn, the third segment is almost mind-blowing. After all, we are already used to laments from psalmists who recognize they are facing enemies as a punishment or discipline. But, in vss. 17-22, Korah’s son doubles down on his accusation of God.

XIII. In segment one (vss. 1-8), God, I remember how You used to act. In segment two, (vss. 9-16), I see how You are now acting. In segment three (vss. 17-22), God, there is no justification for how You are acting. I almost want to roll my chair away from the desk as I type this paragraph lest God strike me down with lightning for even typing this. Yet, there it is in the psalm itself.

XIV. The psalmist explains, if Israel had gone after foreign gods, forgotten the true God, been false to the covenant, then this defeat before enemies would be understandable, even expected. But Korah’s son claims that is not what has happened. The unspoken accusation is God is not keeping up His end of the covenant agreement. Why would this kind of suffering happen? Hasn’t God promised Israel when they keep the covenant, their armies will always win? Hasn’t God promised Israel when they keep the covenant, their enemies will always flee? How can this be happening?

XV. The psalmist doesn’t get into detail, but he does make one explanatory statement. ” Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” In other words, in this case, Israel isn’t being defeated because they disobeyed God and are being punished, but because they followed God and the enemies reacted.

XVI. This is part of life with the Lord. The world doesn’t like it when we live for Him. Sometimes, when they react, the Lord doesn’t. In those seasons, it is not for our sake we are persecuted, we suffer, we even are killed, it is for the Lord’s sake. It is because we are just that convicted and committed to the Lord. After all, people loyal to a King in an army understand that sometimes we suffer, get wounded, and even die in battle not because we betrayed our King, but because we were loyal to Him.

XVII. Jesus understood that. In His Sermon on the Mount, He explained we are blessed when we suffer persecution for His sake and the kingdom’s (Matthew 5:10-12). Paul understood this. He even quoted this very psalm in Romans 8:36 going on to express it is through this loyalty we ultimately become conquerors, knowing none of our suffering is coming between us and God’s love.

XVIII. As increasingly shocking as each segment of this psalm is, I once again suggest the most shocking part is that this psalm is actually in the Psalter. I said that yesterday because I was shocked God allowed it. Today, however, I am saying it because I’m surprised the psalmist prayed it. That is, many folks in this situation don’t pray, they turn from God. Yet, this psalmist, for all his frustration, sadness, anger, and despair, still prays. Why? Because He knows God is the only victory. Let’s keep praying.