Press the arrow to listen to Jars of Clay sing Love Song for a Saviour while reading today’s devotion.

Scripture
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:2

Observation
Why does God delay? Answers come to prayer, but only after a long wait. What difference would it make if God answered a few days or weeks sooner? Would I be any less thankful?

God delays in answering because my heart is more significant than the answer to my prayer.

Delays bring my heart to the surface. There is nothing like God’s deferring that will sift through my desires. We desire many things, but what is worth wanting? Delays are useful for they sort out the heart. It is good sometimes for our heart to become sick, for sometimes we need to become sick of ourselves.

When our desires are somewhat refined through God’s delays, we are given more than an answer, but a tree of life. There is always the human tendency to snatch the answer and to keep moving on to the next desire. Sometimes we even forget to say “thanks”. We are restless because of our longings, always wanting what is next.

Wise is the person who turns a long hoped for answer into a tree of life. Just as the fruit of a tree can nourish the body, so an answer to prayer can long feed the soul. The choice to be increasingly thankful, to ponder things in the heart, to meditated on hidden wonders of the character of God, and simply to be amazed–this is the harvest from the orchard of answers to prayer that can last long after the day of celebration.

Perhaps then, prayer isn’t about answers but what we make of them.

Application
Years ago I lived in a house on the edge of the state forest, Two miles deep in those woods grew a lonely fruit tree in a sea of trees. Maybe it grew from a seed tossed from a worker’s lunch while erecting a power line nearby. So deep in the woodland, its fruit was forgotten. But I would trek deep into the forest shadows to find it and eat of it. There are many fruit trees in my soul of answered prayers from years gone by. That is where the nourishment of life comes. There are moments of reflection and thanks in the shade of their fruit-laden branches. What are the top ten answers to prayer in my life? When did I last visit them and nourish my soul with them?

Prayer
Thank you Father for so many answers to prayer. Help me to fully appreciate them. Amen.