Have you ever drawn water from a country well using a hand pump?
That is a core memory from my childhood. My great-grandmother had a fresh water well near her root cellar, and every summer my cousins and I would play at her house. When we got hot and needed a drink, we would go over to that old metal hand pump and start raising and lowering the handle.
I can still remember the sound of it. That rusty squeak as the handle moved up and down. But the thing about that pump was, the water did not come out right away. You had to keep pumping for a while before anything happened.
If you only lifted the handle one time and stopped, you might think, “Well, I guess there is no water in the well.” But that would not be true. The water was there. You just had to keep going.
I think that old pump taught me something about prayer.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Pray without ceasing.”
That can be hard for me, because I usually want to pray once and see the answer right away. I bring the need to God, and when nothing seems to change immediately, it can be easy to wonder if He heard me at all.
But a delay does not mean God is not listening. A single prayer may not bring the answer I was hoping for in that moment, but that does not mean there is no answer coming. It does not mean God is absent. It does not mean the well is dry.
Sometimes faith looks like staying at the well.