Our son Ned had reached the point in life when he wanted a bicycle more than anything.

He had been playing with his friend Joel that fall and wanted one just like Joel’s—today!

“No,” Bill said. “Wait until Christmas.”

And that was that.

So Joel lent Ned his new bike for a week. Before the week was over, Ned knew that Joel’s bike would be too small for him in a few months. So he decided he needed a larger model.

The next week he saw one advertised with the works: three speeds, spring suspension, butterfly handles, triple brakes, slicks.

This was the one he had to have, and it was still two months until Christmas!

Then I understood, as never before, why God does not answer all of our prayers right away. Today we may be beseeching Him for things that we would not want six months from now.

However, most of our prayers are not “bicycle prayers.”

When we pray according to God’s will (that the prodigal will return; that the sorrowing may find His comfort; that He will work each situation out for our good and His glory), we know that He hears us, for each of these requests is what He wants.

But at times He has us wait for the answers.

The Psalm 27 command “Wait on the Lord” reads in the old Book of Common Prayer: “O tarry thou the Lord’s leisure.”

And to many of us impatient souls, how “leisurely” He seems at times!