4 Reasons God’s Promise to You Didn’t Happen Yet

Maybe you heard God say, “That is the man you will marry one day.” Or maybe you felt God said, “That woman will come back into your life one day.” Or maybe you sensed God whispering, “Don’t worry, I will bless you with a better job soon.”

If you feel like God said something to you, why hasn’t it happened yet? Here are 4 possible explanations for why something hasn’t occurred even though you really felt like God promised this to you.

1. It’s Possible This Thing Has Not Happened Yet If This Was a Contingent Promise

It’s true that God’s love is unconditional in the sense that we cannot earn it and we cannot lose it while on this earth. Everything God does, he does because it’s in his nature to do. It’s all by grace (1 Corinthians 4:7, Romans 5:6, 1 John 4:10).

However, when you read the biblical promises of God in context, there is usually a mutual agreement between God and his people. In other words, while we do not earn the good God gives, God does require us to do certain things to receive his blessings.

For example, while Jesus saves by his grace alone, you do not get to experience his grace unless you put your faith in him (Ephesians 2:8). While God does promise to give us everything we need, he also states we must seek his kingdom first (Matthew 6:33). While God does promise to give us direction in life, he requires that we lean not on our own understanding but to acknowledge him in all that we do (Proverbs 3:5-6).

So when it comes to personal promises you feel like God wants to give you, it is possible you are doing something that is preventing his blessing. Or it is also possible you are not doing something you need to do to receive this blessing.

If you want to be married but you are choosing to date unbelievers, how can you expect God to bless you with a Christian spouse? If you want to feel close to God but you never spend time in prayer and in his word, how can you experience his presence? If you want a Christian community to live with but you never go to church, how can you meet new people?

Sometimes God will give you want you thought he was going to give you once you do what he said you need to do.

2. It’s Possible God Has Not Given You This Blessing Yet Because You Just Need to Keep Waiting

While some promises of God are contingent upon our behavior, there is also always going to be a timing element that is completely in God’s control.

For example, Hannah desperately wanted a child. For some reason, God had not opened her womb. One day she went to the temple at Shiloh and cried out to God. Soon after, God then decided to bless her with a child. However, 1 Samuel 1:3 states that Hannah and her husband went to the temple every year, so it’s very likely Hannah had cried out to God like this before. So why did God wait so long to bless her?

We don’t know why God chose this timing for Hannah. 1 Samuel 1:20 simply states, “And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, ‘I have asked for him from the Lord.’”

Trust God. If he wants something for you, he will give it to you “in due time.”

3. It’s Possible This Thing Has Not Happened Yet Because You Didn’t Hear God Properly

I’m not telling you what God did or did not say to you. Rather, I’m simply pointing out the possibility that all humans have to accept: We can mishear God (link to video).

Sometimes we just get it wrong. You may have felt God told you that man was your future husband, but it is possible that was just wishful thinking. You may believe God said he would bring that woman back into your life, but you have to also accept you could have just heard your own voice and not God’s voice.

When God truly promises something, it happens as he promised it. As God said in Isaiah 46:11 (NIV), “What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do.”

4. It’s Possible This Thing Has Already Occurred or Is About to Happen but It Just Looks Different Than You Expected

Throughout Scripture, God has made promises and then fulfilled them in a way that the people did not anticipate. As Matthew 17:10-17 states:

And the disciples asked him, ‘Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?’ He answered, ‘Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.’ Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.”

The people thought the literal Elijah would come. Jesus was showing them that a type of Elijah had already come – John the Baptist.

Likewise, sometimes it feels like God’s promise to you has not occurred but in fact it just looks different than you expected.

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