Christ Sometimes Delays His Help
Christ sometimes delays His help to test our faith and quicken our prayers, but He is always working and never forgets our prayers.
Charles E. Cowman preaches about the testing of faith through delayed answers to prayers, emphasizing that God's timing is sovereign and not always immediate. He highlights that even though prayers may seem unanswered or delayed, they are never unnoticed by God, and what may appear as refusals are often divine delays to strengthen faith and deepen dependence on God. Cowman encourages believers to trust in God's perfect timing, reminding them that Christ's delays in helping are opportunities to grow in faith and perseverance.
Text
"I called upon him, but he gave me no answer" (S. of Sol. 5:6).
The Lord, when He hath given great faith, hath been known to try it by long delayings. He has suffered His servants' voices to echo in their ears as from a brazen sky. They have knocked at the golden gate, but it has remained unmovable, as though it were rusted upon its hinges. Like Jeremiah, they have cried, "Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through." Thus have true saints continued long in patient waiting without reply, not because their prayers were not vehement, nor because they were unaccepted, but because it so pleased Him who is a Sovereign, and who gives according to His own pleasure. If it pleases Him to bid our patience exercise itself, shall He not do as He will with His own!
No prayer is lost. Praying breath was never spent in vain. There is no such thing as prayer unanswered or unnoticed by God, and some things that we count refusals or denials are simply delays. --H. Bonar
Christ sometimes delays His help that He may try our faith and quicken our prayers. The boat may be covered with the waves, and He sleeps on; but He will wake up before it sinks. He sleeps, but He never oversleeps; and there are no "too lates" with Him. --Alexander Maclaren
Be still, sad soul! lift thou no passionate cry,
But spread the desert of thy being bare
To the full searching of the All-seeing eye;
Wait! and through dark misgiving, black despair,
God will come down in pity, and fill the dry
Dead place with light, and life, and vernal air.
--J. C. Shairp
Sermon Outline
- Christ Sometimes Delays His Help
- The Nature of Prayer and God's Response
- The Importance of Patience and Trust
- The Lord's Sovereignty in Answering Prayer
- 'The Purpose of Delay: Testing Faith'
- No Prayer is Lost or Unanswered
- Delays are Not Refusals, but Opportunities
- Waiting on God in Times of Need
- The Reward of Trusting in God's Timing
Key Quotes
“He has suffered His servants' voices to echo in their ears as from a brazen sky.” — Charles E. Cowman
“There is no such thing as prayer unanswered or unnoticed by God, and some things that we count refusals or denials are simply delays.” — Charles E. Cowman
“He sleeps, but He never oversleeps; and there are no 'too lates' with Him.” — Charles E. Cowman
Application Points
- We must trust in God's sovereignty and timing, even when we don't see immediate results.
- Patience and waiting on God are essential in times of need.
- God's delays are not refusals, but opportunities for us to deepen our faith and trust in Him.