One of my favorite champions of Intermittent Fasting is Gin Stephens, author of Delay, Don’t Deny: Living an Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle. I love the phrase she coined, “Delay, Don’t Deny”. It reminds us that just because we are delaying our food, doesn’t mean we are completely denying food all together. What really strikes me, is the realization that delay is part of God’s design.
This is SOOOO hard for us, in the instant gratification society that we live in. We want what we want and we want it now, gosh darn it. Whether it’s that cookie that just caught our eye and we want it right now. Or whether it’s the new diet that we’ve vowed to undertake, we want to start it and see the results this week.
But that isn’t necessarily God’s plan. Raise your hand if you’ve ever prayed a prayer and then an angel from the Heaven’s came rushing down and gave you exactly what you just asked for right away? Yeah, me neither. Because God answers prayers in HIS timing, not ours. And in the process, he molds and shapes us and teaches us lessons and uses every bit of it for His glory. That is His plan and it is perfect!
There are so many examples of God’s delay, not His denial, in the bible. One of my favorites is the story of Lazarus and his sisters.
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
John 11:5-6
Wait a minute. Jesus is told that his dear friend, the brother of two of his favorite servants, Mary and Martha, is deathly ill and he decides to go on sabbatical for 2 days? Doesn’t Jesus realize that time is of the essence here? I’m sure Mary and Martha are thinking, “What are you waiting for? Hurry and heal him, before its too late!”
Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”
John 11:17-21, 32-36
Talk about major delay. Jesus didn’t show up until Lazarus had already been dead for 4 whole days. Mary and Martha both feel as though their prayers have been denied by God. They both say to Jesus “If you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.” Even their Jewish friends feel angry at Jesus by basically saying, “if you really loved Lazarus, you would have made it here in time to keep him from dying, but instead you took your sweet time and now its too late”. But they have all forgotten that delay isn’t denial!
So, Jesus tells Mary and Martha to remove the stone from Lazarus’ tomb.
So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
John 11:39-41
Mary and Martha’s prayer was for Jesus to come now and heal their brother. But Jesus delayed. And he did it on purpose. He delayed to the point that he actually gets to do an even bigger miracle than merely healing Lazarus. Instead, he raises him from the dead! Their prayer wasn’t denied, it was delayed and then answered ten fold!
If we can’t learn to accept the delay, we just may miss out on an even bigger blessing than we could ever even think to ask for. So, how about you? Are you willing to delay the gratification of food for a short time in exchange for healing from God? Are you willing to seek God before you seek your next meal? Are you willing to pursue a relationship with Christ as much as your pursue the latest and greatest diet? Are you willing to stay the course, even when it seems like you aren’t making any progress at all? More than likely, you ARE making progress, but the results you are looking for (i.e. the number on the scale coming down) is just delayed.
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Blessings,
Ronni
Restore Your Temple 