It was a Friday evening at house fellowship. I had had a tiring week so had decided that I wasn’t going to say much that evening. I was going to learn and listen. Things were progressing nicely according to my plan when somebody made a comment that broke my silence. I could not resist the temptation of saying something.

I had heard this comment made many times before and somehow I think it’s a statement that a lot of people make and even believe in.  It’s something that many of us might have said at one time or the other; something along the lines of “God always comes through at the last minute”.

I am not sure whether we have developed this idea out of our personal experience (and yes, there are times that God comes through at what ‘seems’ the last minute to us. It could also be the story of Paul and Silas, when God sent an angel at the midnight hour ( Acts 16) or even the story of Daniel (when God said that He had heard Daniel’s prayer from the first day he started praying, though he did not answer until 21 days later ( Daniel 10).

The scriptures do not read that God always comes through at the last minute and therefore, we should also delete it from our ‘sayings’.  There are a few dangers with this saying.

The danger is that subconsciously, we are diluting the sovereignty of God. I believe that God answers prayers when He chooses to, whether we consider it to be the first, tenth, fourteenth or last hour. Prayer is not a science.

The second danger of this is that we become a bit complacent. We stop being like the persistent widow ( Luke 18:1-7) whom the Judge had to get up ‘quickly’ so she could stop bothering him. We shouldn’t subject ourselves to ‘involuntary longsuffering’ and/or unnecessary warfare.

Thirdly, we begin to believe what we say and our expectation is based on our belief system. The bible says that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks

The truth is God is God and whilst He has given us principles about prayer from the scriptures, He answers prayers in His timing, in His way and for His purpose. The scriptures do not contain God, they reveal Him. The same God that answered at the midnight hour also says in His word that before we speak, He will answer our prayers ( Isaiah 65:24). Another version of Isaiah 65:24says while we are praying God will answer.

So next time you might be tempted to say “God always comes through at the last minute” and even accept your belief systems to that effect, remember the sovereignty of God.

 I think a better statement would be “Sometimes, God appears to come through at the last minute”.

So until I appear again in your inbox with more insight from the scriptures or life, stay blessed.

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Last update : Saturday 11/26/11

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