Many times we pray and ask God for something and then expect an instant answer. And many times He does offer a miraculous answer right away. But many times He does not, and we wait.
While resting to recover from a medical procedure, I was watching a silly 1960s TV show called Gilligan’s Island about a group of people stranded on an undiscovered island in the Pacific ocean. The seven eclectic castaways got into ridiculous situations on every episode and this was no exception.
After falling from a coconut tree, Gilligan thought he had a broken nose. The Professor kept telling him it wasn’t broken but he wouldn’t listen. His sore, swollen nose looked awful and after a couple of days with no improvement Gilligan insisted he wanted surgery to fix it because he was sure his nose was broken. Finally, all the castaways agreed to help him with his problem. The women fashioned a dozen celebrity noses out of clay and told Gilligan to choose the one he wanted for his new nose. The Professor would perform surgery. The Skipper would assist with anesthesia. Gilligan went to sleep for surgery and awoke with a bandage over his nose. After five days the Professor removed the bandage and… Gilligan had his original nose, perfect, with no swelling or discoloration! There had been no actual surgery since none was necessary. Gilligan was disappointed he didn’t have a “new” celebrity nose, but realized his nose had not been broken after all and only needed time to heal and reduce swelling.
We sometimes want or need something — a better job, a newer car, a relationship breakthrough, a physical healing, or myriad other things. We get impatient. We’ve prayed and asked God. We’ve asked others to pray. And God has been silent. Does He not hear our prayers? Yes! He hears and answers — every prayer. But, like Gilligan, we grow impatient and take things into our own hands. We don’t think God will answer or the answer isn’t coming fast enough or what someone else is telling us isn’t what we want to hear. So we go to Plan B and try to help God.
God does not need our help. Sometimes He is gently urging us to wait.
God does not need our help. Sometimes He is gently urging us to wait. Maybe, like Gilligan, we need to wait five days (or more) to have the bandage removed so that we can see God was working in our lives all along. It was our own impatience that put us through unnecessary worry and fret. It isn’t easy to wait. But sometimes waiting is the answer.
