This illustration came to me some time ago.
In the illustration you can see the hand of God sliding a tile in one of those puzzles you can buy. He is moving pieces around & gradually getting all the tiles in the correct position, to spell out the words “Your problem’s solution”.
The concept behind the picture is simple: God can do anything, instantly, however, when dealing in our finite, temporal universe God sometimes has to operate within the confines of time. It takes time to move all the pieces needed to bring about a solution to one of our problems.
Our response to this discovery that it may take time to bring us our solution is the realisation that it is appropriate to be patient & wait for God to move people, things, money, resources & time around, until He can move all the related pieces (or tiles) into position, & then Viola! your solution apparently drops into place before you!
If this concept is even remotely true, then it is interesting to note that God requires time to move all the particular pieces around & get them into the order He needs them to be in, before we get the solution we are looking for. The concept seems to make sense of why it sometimes takes hours, days, weeks, months or even years, for God to action something. In my cosmic version of the sliding puzzle, God may have to move a lot of people &/or other resources around the “board” in order to get you the solution He wants for you. Clearly He will not interfere with any other person’s freedom of choice, which may account for the often long time delay’s we experience when praying for God to act on our behalf.
Patience, persistence in prayer, trust in God’s goodness, hope, dedication & determination could all be themes which this picture might help to illustrate.
Close up of The Cosmic Tile Puzzle