After a long wait . . .

Norah Summers May 11, 2026 0 0

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Psalm 66: 8-20 (NIV-UK)

8 Praise our God, all peoples,
    let the sound of his praise be heard;
9 he has preserved our lives
    and kept our feet from slipping.
10 For you, God, tested us;
    you refined us like silver.
11 You brought us into prison
    and laid burdens on our backs.
12 You let people ride over our heads;
    we went through fire and water,
    but you brought us to a place of abundance.

13 I will come to your temple with burnt offerings
    and fulfil my vows to you –
14 vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke
    when I was in trouble.
15 I will sacrifice fat animals to you
    and an offering of rams;
    I will offer bulls and goats.

16 Come and hear, all you who fear God;
    let me tell you what he has done for me.
17 I cried out to him with my mouth;
    his praise was on my tongue.
18 If I had cherished sin in my heart,
    the Lord would not have listened;
19 but God has surely listened
    and has heard my prayer.
20 Praise be to God,
    who has not rejected my prayer
    or withheld his love from me!

As ever, there is a Psalm to reflect our experience, to express our feelings.

Why don’t we get instant answers to our prayers?

We expect to interrogate Google or whatever and have the answer flash up before our eyes.

But real life isn’t like that.

Real life is slow. It unfolds.

Although sometimes events come upon us suddenly, shocking or shaking us, they take time to process, time to understand, time to make sense of – and often there seems no explanation for now.

But God’s time is not our time. There may be many stages to be gone through before we get an answer.

But answer there will be.

Keep watch.

Take heart.

“Rejoice in the Lord always: God is at hand, Joy and gladness for all who seek the Lord.

Wait for the Lord, his day is near.

Wait for the Lord, keep watch, take heart.”

(From Taizé, it can be found in Church Hymnary 4, 276)

Prayer:

Loving God, we know you are there and listening.

Give us the grace, we pray, to rejoice in your presence as we wait.