The Lord has his own timeline that needs to be reckoned with. In Judges 6:8–10 the response Israel received to its outcry to the Lord was not immediate deliverance, but the word of the prophet, the Word of the Lord. That was the answer God gave to what Israel considered an urgent need. That was the Lord’s timeline. What about the church today? Do we tend to want a change of circumstances when the circumstances make us suffer? Yes we do. Yet while we may want deliverance from difficult circumstances, God sometimes would rather we first interpret our circumstances. Sometimes the church may need understanding, insight, more than relief. So the Lord gives opportunities at times for us to focus our energies on prayerfully letting God instruct us by his Word on how to live with him in humility, contriteness of heart, and devotion—and to repent if we are not.¹