You’ve prayed. You’ve praised. You’ve sown seeds. You’ve kept the faith. You’ve stood on the promises in the Word. You know that God is able to answer your request, but you haven’t seen your harvest yet. I want to encourage you today that you have not been denied. Your prayer has not gone unheard and lost in the masses of prayers that go up before the Lord. It’s just a matter of time.

Genesis 8:22 says, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.” We often think about the importance of sowing seeds and reaping a harvest. But what about the time in between? Seedtime & harvest can actually be looked at like this: Seed. Time. Harvest. Just like when a farmer sows a seed into the soil, he must water his seed and allow time to take its course for the harvest to appear when it’s ready.

Consider the story of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1-2:11. She was loved of her husband and yet could not have a child. The annual rivalry between her and her husband’s other wife Peninnah, who had many children, was becoming more than she could bear. Even though she had a great husband, she couldn’t even eat because of the pressure and disappointment of not being a mother. One day, she went to the tabernacle to pray and silently pour her heart out to God in despair. She made a promise to God that if He would remember her pain and allow her to have a son, she would give him back to the Lord. The priest, Eli, who was in the tabernacle saw her praying and actually thought she was drunk! She assured him that she wasn’t and explained how she was praying from a sorrowful heart. Eli encouraged her to go in peace and that God would answer her prayer. When she heard that, she received the word and went to eat. The next day, she and her husband woke up early in the morning to worship God and then went home.

So it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel saying, “Because I have asked for him from the Lord.” (1 Samuel 1:20)

Hannah followed through with her promise to God and gave her son back to the Lord. It says in 1 Samuel 3:19 that “Samuel grew and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground”. He became a prophet to the nation of Israel and was used of God to anoint Israel’s first king, Saul, and also King David. God used him to speak into their lives at very critical times and he was a highly influential prophet in the land of Israel.

Though it seemed like God had forgotten Hannah and hadn’t seen her suffering and despair, He did not. It was just a matter of time. God knew that Samuel had to be born at a certain time to be alive during Israel’s transition from judges to kings. Samuel was the last judge and the first prophet. God had a purpose for Samuel’s life that went beyond what Hannah could even image. The mere fact that Samuel has two books of the bible named after him (1 Samuel and 2 Samuel) are an indicator that his work and the work of the kings during his lifetime was of great importance.

What appears to be a delay in the answer of your prayer is not a denial of your request. It’s just a matter of time.

Maybe you have been believing God to get pregnant and have tried everything you can to conceive only to be disappointed by negative pregnancy results time and time again. Maybe you have been single for a long time and are believing God for a spouse but haven’t found the one yet. You feel like you’re getting older and older and that all the “good men” out there are few and far between. Maybe you’re believing God for an open door in your life and yet every door that you seem to knock on is bolted shut. Whatever your situation is, be encouraged today! Keep the faith! Don’t lose hope! You are not forgotten! God sees you. He knows you and He loves you. He is willing and able to strengthen you in this season of waiting.

Why do you say, O Jacob, And speak O Israel: “My way is hidden from the Lord, And my just claim is passed over by my God”? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the end of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases their strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:27-31)

Our eternal God is not confined to or limited by time, but He will work with and inside of time for His purpose. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says,“To everything there is a season; a time for every purpose under heaven.”You are not behind schedule, you are moving forward according to His timing. As you continue to trust God and His timing in your life, you will be able to enjoy the road along the way and rest in peace, knowing that He is in control. Praise God in advance for what you know by faith He is going to do!

Your time is coming.

He has made everything beautiful in its time... (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

Emonne Markland

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