18 Bible Verses about Divine Delays

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?

Since I am afflicted and needy,
Let the Lord be mindful of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
Do not delay, O my God.

I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched;
My eyes fail while I wait for my God.

My eyes fail with longing for Your word,
While I say, “When will You comfort me?”

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

Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.

Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”

Nevertheless I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.

“Do you see how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the evil in his days, but I will bring the evil upon his house in his son’s days.”

But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them and turned to them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them or cast them from His presence until now.

Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.

“For the sake of My name I delay My wrath,
And for My praise I restrain it for you,
In order not to cut you off.

And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’

And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer;

and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’”

who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.