Why Some of God’s Promises Take So Long to Happen
The Bible tells us that all of God’s promises are ours through Jesus. (2 Corinthians 1:20). It also says that God has ALREADY given us EVERYTHING that pertains to both life and godliness through knowing Jesus and receiving God’s promises. (2 Peter 1:3–4)
Repeatedly Scripture, and hopefully your experience, shouts to us that God loves us enough to die for us. It tells us that if God loved us enough to die for us when we didn’t care at all about Him, how much more are we saved from every aspect of His wrath, now that we are loving Him back. (Romans 5:1–8)
So, God wants us to experience His incredible promises. He loves us enough to die for us and, in Jesus, we are now free from judgment, guilt, and condemnation.
Why then does it take so long to receive some of what God wants to freely give us? Are we doing something wrong? Is there something we’re missing?
Sometimes It is Super Easy
Isn’t it great when we pray, based on the promise found in the Bible, and within a short time, we receive it?
Several years ago, the church we had started in Germany needed to get a bigger place. As a very young church, we didn’t have enough money to buy something in an extremely expensive city. But we found some office space we could rent.
The owners gave us permission to tear down walls and turn it into a place large enough for several hundred people for worship services.
Most of our church was mainly young, college-age people with a few more established families attending. Janet and I prayed about our part in sacrificial giving to get this done.
We had little in the bank, but it was several thousand dollars and we felt like God told us to give everything we had. This was especially challenging because Janet was very pregnant with our first child. Besides needing money to pay for birth-related expenses, we needed to find and pay for a larger, more expensive apartment.
We didn’t tell anyone that we had given everything we had towards this project, but within a week of doing so, we experienced God’s amazing provision.
A Quick Work
Four days after we had emptied our savings account, a man in our young church came up to me after a Friday night prayer service. He handed me an envelope and said he and his wife felt like God wanted them to give this to us.
I thanked him, but didn’t open it. When I got home, Janet and I opened the envelope and it was more than what we had given to the renovation project. In a few days, God had already fulfilled His promise that if we give, it would be given back to us. (Luke 6:38)
If that wasn’t enough, at church that Sunday another couple came and gave us another envelope. It was enough for us to pay the down payment for a new place and get what we needed to live there.
Within 6 days of emptying our bank account, God gave back to us almost twice as much as we had given.
It’s soooo great when God releases His promises FAST!
Most Promises Take Some Time
But that isn’t how it always happens, is it? In my experience and in the experience of those I’ve had the privilege of serving, most of God’s promises take time before we see them manifested in our lives and circumstances.
Some promises take months, years or even decades before we experience them in our bodies, relationships, finances, or goals.
Why is that? If God loves us as much as the Bible says and if He has all power and if He has already given us promises that cover every aspect of life, why does it take soooo long sometimes?
There’s a lot to this (that’s why I’m writing several short books on this whole living in God’s promises theme), but briefly, here are five of them.
1. God’s Timing Based on His Big Purposes
In Genesis, starting in chapter 12, God gives Abraham promises about His plans for him. One of those promises is that Abraham’s descendents would live in and possess the land known as Israel.
But in Genesis 15:13–16 God tells Abraham a sobering and important insight:
“Then the Lord said to Abram, ‘Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
There is a lot to unpack in this passage, so let’s just bullet-point some of the main ideas:
- God promised Abraham his descendants would live in this land; it would be theirs.
- First, they would be in what we know to be Egypt for 400 years
- They would experience hardship, even slavery, for a time
- Part of the reason they needed to be in Egypt so long was because the “iniquity of the Amorites was not yet complete, some translations say “full.”
Thankfully, we don’t have to wait hundreds of years for the fulfillment of most of God’s promises, but we often have to wait years.
Why?
One reason is because God is working out His promises and purposes in our lives in harmony with what He’s doing in history, in nations, and entire people groups.
That means some of His promises have to be delayed in our lives because He’s weaving His purposes for us in what He’s doing in throughout the world.
Only God is brilliant enough to do all this. He knows what He’s doing; including what He’s doing in your life.
2. Spiritual Resistance
In Daniel chapter 10, Daniel spent 21 days praying specific requests and promises to God.
In verse 10 the angel Gabriel shows up and says to Daniel in verses 12–14, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.”
Daniel's prayer was heard the first day he prayed. In response to his words, the mighty angel Gabriel had been sent with God’s message to him. Yet, because there was spiritual resistance, Gabriel could not get through to Daniel.
Only when the angel Michael came, then God’s answer to Daniel got through.
The Bible, especially in places like Ephesians 6, makes clear there is real warfare going on in the spiritual realm. Our ongoing prayer and faith are needed for some promises to break through the resistance to get to us.
3. Our Personal Growth
In 1 Corinthians 3:1–2, Paul told them he could not teach them or give them solid spiritual food because they were not yet mature enough to receive it. They still needed milk instead of solid food.
Some promises God wants to release to us will only benefit us when we are spiritually mature enough to receive them. Some promises are “solid food” and others are easier to receive, like “milk.”
The primary key here is if I’m being faithful with the things God has already entrusted to me. If I faithfully use what He’s already given me and am doing what He has already made clear to me, instead of acting like a baby,THEN He can give me more. (Matthew 25)
Even if parents have already purchased a car to be given to their child as a gift, they will not entrust it to him until he’s mature enough to drive it safely. No parent is giving a car to a 10-year-old.
There are “milk” promises and “solid food” promises. As we grow, God can release more to us so they benefit us without overwhelming us.
4. Our Reluctance or Disobedience
In Hebrews 3–4, God tells us that many people of Exodus Israel did not go into the Promised Land because they would not believe what God told them. As a result of their unbelief, they disobeyed His instructions.
Yes,they had seen incredible miracles. But they still had so much of Egyptian slavery thinking that they wouldn’t believe God’s word and promises. Their unbelief resulted in them staying in the wilderness instead of possessing the promises, the Land. and God’s blessings.
This kept them from receiving what God wanted them to have.
Hebrews 4:2 is so enlightening,
“For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them because they were not united by faith with those who listened.”
This is very important and one reason I know I’ve blocked some of God’s promises coming through in my life.
Hebrews 6:12 tells us we inherit God’s promises through faith and patience.
If a promise in God’s word seems too big or beyond my comprehension of how God can possibly do what He’s said, I have a tendency to just let it go.
Instead of saying to myself, “God promised this, and He has the power to do it; even if it seems impossible.” I’ll just let it slide or not take it seriously.
But our beliefs really do matter. These people didn’t receive all God had for them because they did not “unite” or “mix” what they heard from God with faith.
Some expression of faith is almost always required to receive what God wants to give.
I received the gift of eternal life; when I believed the Gospel. That gift was always available to me, but it didn’t become mine until I believed it.
Galatians 3:1–5 tells us we receive salvation, the Holy Spirit, and God’s promises the same way. We receive through hearing with faith or hearing God’s word and uniting it with faith.
5. We Give Up
Galatians 6:9 tells us “And let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we not give up.”
Almost always, enduring faith is necessary to receive what God has promised. One of God’s big goals in our lives is to develop persevering faith.
Romans 4, Romans 5, James 1, Hebrews 6 all talk about the importance of persevering in our faith and the incredible blessings that come when we endure while believing.
The reason Paul told us not to grow weary in doing good (including persevering faith) is because it’s possible to grow weary. If we’re not careful, we can tire of doing good (including believing for God’s promises).
We all have an inner timer on how long we think something should take. If it takes longer than we think it should, it tempts us to give up; I know I have.
This is why persevering faith is written about so often in Scripture. It is one of God’s primary goals and His means of maturing us, of making us more like Jesus. It is also how so many of His promises are eventually received.
Abraham had to wait over 20 years for the promised son to be born.
Moses waited 40 years in the desert before he stepped into God’s promised calling in his life.
Hannah waited years until God opened her womb and gave her a son who would change the course of the entire nation. (Samuel)
As I write these words, I’m challenging myself; keep believing in God’s word. I invite you to join me in that commitment. Let’s not grow weary in doing good, because we will reap in due season.
It would honor me to pray with you and stand in faith with you for the promises you are believing for.
I also want you to have a FREE book on how to pray when life is really busy and more free resources to help you on your promise-receiving journey.
Just go to www.TruVineMission.com , fill out the info. You’ll get the book and a follow up message from me asking you how I can pray for you and stand in faith with you. I will pray for you and send you more resources.
