Shri Nathji also told another story explaining why sometimes prayers were answered late:
I invite you to my house for dinner at 8 p.m. You arrive sharply on time. I ask you to sit in the drawing room while I go into the kitchen. You wait till 9 p.m. and then 10 p.m. and then 11 p.m., and finally you conclude that it is not my intention to give you dinner, and you get up to leave. You have hardly reached the door when I emerge from the kitchen and entreat you to come inside, with the words:
‘I am sorry for the delay in bringing the food. But if I had given you dinner promptly at 8 p.m. the food would have consisted of mere daal and roti. The reason for the delay is that I was preparing several dishes more with many more delicacies! ‘
Thus it is that when God delays giving something to us, it is only because He is preparing to give us something much better than we had ever imagined or prayed for.