Patient in Prayer (Genesis 30:22)

Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.
—Genesis 30:22

This verse has a lot of personal application to our lives, to my family’s life. I’ve shared this in different contexts, but as Heather and I struggled to have children, we wondered if we would ever be able to have children. God ended up providing in ways we never could have imagined—first through adoption, and then through God opening Heather’s womb and giving us children biologically as well.

Genesis 30:22 teaches that God remembers his people in their waiting.

So whenever I read this verse, I’m overwhelmed. I’m thankful. I think about each one of my kids and how much I love them and how God specifically provided them in ways that were clearly orchestrated by his hand. And that’s true for every child.

When I think about how this verse leads us to pray, a couple of different things come to mind. One, I want to lead us to pray for parents who are longing for children, and God is not providing at this point in the way they hoped. This is something we’ve walked through personally and walked alongside a variety of other couples through as well. I want to pray over those couples. And if you know a couple who is experiencing that kind of longing, that kind of waiting, and the heartache that goes with it, maybe you can pass this on to them and, obviously, pray for them specifically as I’m voicing this prayer generally.

But also, I know—and we’ve talked about this in different places in Genesis—that many of us are waiting in other ways. Maybe you’re waiting for marriage, longing for marriage, and God has not provided a spouse in the way you’ve hoped to this point. Or you’re waiting for—fill in the blank. There are so many ways we often find ourselves waiting.

Genesis 30:22 pictures God working even when nothing seems to change.

I love this verse because of the way it says, “God remembered Rachel.” It’s good to know that God never, ever forgets you. When you’re waiting, and you wonder, Does God see? Does God know? Has God forgotten? The answer is clearly no. God never forgets you.

And not only did God remember Rachel, but God listened to her. Sometimes when we’re waiting and praying, we wonder whether it’s doing any good. Prayer to God is never, ever, ever in vain. So don’t believe the lie the adversary wants to put in your mind—that God has forgotten you or that God is not listening to your prayers. Neither of those things is true. God is worthy of your trust in the waiting, and he is working in the waiting in ways you don’t see.

So let me pray that over all of us who are waiting, and then specifically over those who are waiting in the way Rachel was waiting in Genesis 30:22.

God, we praise you that you are always working while we are waiting. Help us, we pray, in the fight of faith—in those moments when we struggle to believe that you have not forgotten us and that you are listening to us. Help us to believe on a daily basis that you know us and see us.

This verse calls us to trust God’s timing and care.

We think about Psalm 56—how you count our tossings in bed, how you hold our tears in a bottle. You see them all. You know them all intimately, even more than we know ourselves. Sometimes we toss in bed while we’re awake, sometimes while we’re asleep—restless—and you see us even when we’re unconscious. We praise you, God, for your love for us. We praise you for never forgetting us.

I pray for anyone who is struggling right now—whether waiting in general or specifically waiting for children—that they would know they are not forgotten by you. I pray that, in a fresh way, in this moment, your Holy Spirit would take Genesis 30:22 and remind them that you remember them, that you know them, that you see them, and not only that—but that you love them. Your goodness and your mercy are pursuing them every day, including today, including this moment. You are working. You are listening to their prayers. All of their cries before you are heard. You will answer according to your infinite wisdom, your infinite power, and your infinite love.

God, we trust in you. We pray for faith on days when faith is hard to come by in waiting. And God, we pray specifically for couples who are longing for children. We ask you—knowing this prayer is not in vain—please provide children. Please give them the desires of their hearts: children as a blessing from you, children who will grow to know you, love you, walk with you, and worship you.

We pray for our brothers and sisters who are longing and asking you for this, and for brothers and sisters who are waiting in what feels like a million other ways.

A Prayer for the Yadav People

And, speaking of millions, we pray for the 57-plus million Yadav people in India—Hindi-speaking men, women, and children—who are waiting to hear the gospel, the good news of your love for them, waiting for salvation in Jesus. Please, O God, cause a bountiful harvest to happen in India, among the Yadav people.

We pray all of this according to your Word in Genesis 30:22. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.