You know there's an interesting part in the Book of Mormon that I've just read, it's in Mosiah 17, after King Noah and the people condemn Abinadi to death. He states the Lord will be slow to hear their cries, when they are in slavery and being slain by their enemies. I reflect upon this a lot. Why can't God just jump when we call him? Why not just hear when the people repent?

Ultimately I think it has more to do with love than God just wanting to punish the wicked. I think God lets us experience the consequences of our actions for a while, so that we can honestly repent. So that we are more willing to remember him the next time we're in prosperous circumstances, and free of the mess we made for ourselves the last time. I think God wants us to think. He wants us to turn away from sin because we have to understand what are the wages of sin.

I think of my own life. I have a tendency to get addicted to things. Bad things, good things... I get hooked on all sorts of stuff. (like video games... ;) If God were to instantly break my fixation on every bad thing, I doubt I'd learn the lessons God wants me to learn. I dunno. I don't know all the things God expects me to learn yet, except that I know I am a fallen man, and I need Him. There have been times when God has delivered me from the more terrible consequences of my actions, because he is merciful, and yet, I often find myself returning to the same sins, again and again... That's not repentance. And so, there have been times in my life when it has seemed to me that God is "slow" to hear my cries. At those times, when deliverance does come, I am more willing, more humble, to do His will, and give my will to Him.

--Ray