Answered Prayers: Waiting on God

When I pray, I want God to answer my prayers right away. The concept of "waiting upon the Lord" does not fit well with my self-centered theology. Trying to understand "why" things happen reminds me of the disciples asking Jesus about the blind man in chapter 9 of the Gospel of John:

"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him.

Our puny little finite minds cannot grasp the mind of God. From God's perspective the blind man was there to manifest the Messiahship of Jesus. It had nothing to do with who sinned. In the same way, when Lazarus was sick and dying, his sisters called for Jesus to come. However his response was:

So when he heard that he was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

I have to confess that if I were Mary or Martha, I would have been disappointed that Jesus did not come AT ONCE! God sat there for two days while Lazarus died. Even though we know the story from God's perspective, how it all works out for the best; Mary and Martha went through the grief of watching their brother die. I can't help but speculate that they felt that their prayers had not been answered? And, I know at times, each of us feels that way. Learning to be patient while we pray is a virtue that is always before us. Learning to see it from God's point of view is what it is all about.