Isaiah 30:18

New International Version

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;
    therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the Lord is a God of justice.
    Blessed are all who wait for him!

For Encouragement

So, your despair has silenced you—silent because God has not responded to your prayers yet? Do not, my friend, for God often delays His answers to our prayers for a purpose. One thing you can assure yourself, though, is that God answers every prayer that arises from His needy and trusting servant.

Is He not the God who told His people that He longs to be gracious to them? (Isa. 3:18). Will He not then rise to show you His love and compassion? Are you not His child too? Is He not a God of justice? Does He not know the needs of His people to respond aptly to their cries?

O, what a faithful God He is, and how able to do much more than we ask or think about (Eph. 3:26)! He blesses those who patiently wait for Him.

Remember Jacob at Mahanaim, where he struggled with the Lord all night (Gen. 32:2)? He did not get his blessing until daybreak (26-28). How about the Canaanite woman with Jesus (Matt. 15:21-28)? It took a while for the Lord to respond to her request. And the great Apostle Paul and his pleading for God to remove the thorn in his flesh (2 Cor. 12:7-10)? How many times did he plead, and what was God’s answer? You are not alone in this struggle in prayers, my friend.

When God seems to be silent, it could be that He wants to show us His power and sovereignty that gives Him the right to  withhold from us or to grant our requests. Sometimes, for our interest, He may hold back His response to intensify the desire in our hearts so we can pray more intensely and fervently. Many times, too, God waits to remove something in us before the joy of His grace breaks forth in our hearts. Other times, some demonic powers resist His response, like what happened to Daniel (Dan. 10:13).

For whatever reason, God’s love always towers over our weaknesses and misery to display the riches of His grace to us through Christ Jesus our Lord.

So, do not let discouragement invade your heart to keep you from going on your knees in prayer. . Continue to knock on the door of mercy until God opens to let you into His throne of grace (Heb. 4:16).

The night is fading, and dawn will break on you soon.

Shalom.