Perhaps

Many years after the prophet Alma received a threatening message from an angel and turned his life around, the Lord sent him on a mission to call the Nephites to repentance. As he preached from city to city, he bore his witness of God's reality and of God's desire for the people to repent and turn to Him. Interestingly, he did not speak of his supernatural encounter with an angel as the basis for his faith and testimony. Instead, he spoke of the following conversion process:

Behold, I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me.
--Alma 5:46

It was not a visit from a heavenly messenger that converted Alma. The angel got Alma's attention, but it was fasting and prayer that brought the change of heart into Alma's life. While the angelic visitation was dramatic, Alma's conversion required diligence and patience. Alma had to wait on the Lord.

Why does God sometimes delay His response to my prayers? Perhaps He is giving me time to prepare for the answer. Perhaps I need the time to hone and refine my request. Perhaps I haven't done all I can on my own yet to truly distinguish between my power and God's power. Perhaps I am not ready to appreciate the answer when it comes. Perhaps I have taken no thought about what I want except to ask. Perhaps the development of patience and endurance are more valuable blessings than the thing I ask for. 

Nevertheless, once I am prepared, specific, and humble, having expended my own best efforts, and learned patience, the answer comes. It may not be what I initially thought I wanted, but it is always what I truly need.

Persistently Consistent

The Apostle Paul exhorted the faithful followers of Christ in these words:  

Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
--Romans 12:12

The phrase "continuing instant in prayer" means to be constantly persistent in our prayers. A prayer binge followed by silent indifference or prolonged distraction is a formula for failure with God. Sometimes our trials persist so that our prayers persist. Persistent prayers lead to persistent hope, which produces persistent joy. 

When I pray persistently and consistently, I can rejoice in hope and patiently endure tribulations. The three are related and dependent. Tribulation teaches practical patience, and prayer adds to my patience. I pray for the gift of patience, not only in my trials but in all good things. The answer to my prayers is hope, and once I have hope, I can rejoice, even in tribulations. 

Persistence is not the same as vain repetition. Vain repetition comes from thoughtlessly reciting words that may have had meaning once but are now hollow. We may have felt good about a particular prayer the first time, so we repeat it over and over again hoping it will make us feel good again. It is not prayer to God but a therapeutic exercise directed at ourselves. 

Persistent prayer may be repetitive, but it is filled with faith, hope, and expectation. It is an expression of my trust and patience in a God who knows best and whose timing is best from an eternal perspective, especially when my mortal perspective is temporally myopic. I constantly let God know I wait in faith and trust in His divine wisdom. Trials come and go, and in their wake they leave enlivened hope, increased joy, solid patience, and ever blossoming prayer.

Lesson in Patience

In the previous chapter of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus gave a warning about His Second Coming and the desperate times that would accompany that great event. Now He begins the next set of instructions to His disciples with these words:

And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
--Luke 18:1

The parable that followed this pronouncement about praying always concerns a bereft widow and an unjust judge. Though the town judge initially paid no attention to the importuning widow, because she continued to pester him, the judge finally acceded to her request for help. Jesus concludes this parable with the promise the God will hear us, "though he bear long with" us, meaning that we may have to be patient until the Lord sees fit to answer us in His own due time.

Returning to Jesus's introduction to the parable, to "not faint" is to not lose heart. God hears all prayers, but He answers in His own due time. When answers don't come quickly or easily, we may think God isn't listening or He doesn't care. Such is not the case. God always hears, always cares, and always answers. His answers, however, are always calculated for our maximum benefit. Despite what we may want, God knows what we truly need. He gives us what we need, which may not be what we want. Sometimes the most important thing we need, amidst all our wants, is a lesson in patience.

For most of my life, I have been quite adept at instructing God in how He should run His universe and the timing of the blessings I think I need in my life and in the lives of others. I tell Him who to heal and when to heal them, who to strengthen and how He should strengthen them, whose burdens He should lift and how He should lift them. I have approached God like my personal vending machine of blessings, dropped in my coins of prayer and faith, pushed the buttons, and expected instant gratification. 

Has God heard all my selfish, self-centered, impatient prayers? Absolutely. Does He love me? Positively. Does He want me to have a good life? Most assuredly. But He is also wise enough to withhold the blessings I want and dispense the blessings I need. He is patient enough to let me learn His purposes despite my frantic desires to have Him right every wrong and heal every illness and remove every burden. 

I has taken me many years, but I have stopped, for the most part, trying to instruct God in how I want Him to fix the world and have instead offered to listen to what He wants for me, to bear up the burdens He wants me to carry, to deal with the obstacles He allows to obstruct my easy path, to serve those on whom He has chosen to allow afflictions to linger, and to wait patiently with an eye of faith for the things I truly need. God's goodness is not in a comfortable life with no drama, no problems, and no stress, but in permitting all the trials that will enable me to come to the Savior with a broken heart and contrite spirit. My purpose in this earthly life is not to be comfortable on a calm sea, but to the strong in the midst of the storms that blow my vessel towards the promised land of salvation and exaltation.

God Waits

I want to be hopeful and helpful in what I write, but I need to be honest, too. I often feel far from the Lord. The heavens are like brass more often than I care to admit. I wonder what's wrong, and this scripture comes to mind:

 The Lord is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.
-- Proverbs 15:29

I believe God does not love His disobedient children less, but He is far from them because they have removed themselves from Him. He is always in the same place. Our nearness to Him is our choice and our decision, not His. He is ever available and willing to listen. 

So what is wrong? He does not hear the prayers of the wicked because they do not pray. I am guilty and wicked when I say prayers but do not pray. I speak, but I do not listen for an answer. I am in a hurry when the Lord wants to take His time. 

I also believe, however, in the very moment that a disobedient, wayward, prodigal child turns to the Father in sincerity and genuine humility, he is righteous in that moment, and God hears his prayer. God is merciful and forgives over and over again. Perhaps because He is so full of patience and long-suffering, He wants me to learn a little patience, too. So, He waits for me to come to myself, like the prodigal son that I am, and then come to Him. Oh, how grateful I am that He never wearies and never gives up. I'm grateful God waits.