God’s Timing

“Waiting time is never wasted time when God is involved. When your breakthrough does not come immediately, it is not because God has forgotten you or left you on the shelf. He is developing and building you, polishing you so that when the time is right, as with an arrow, He’ll unleash you.  And like a skillfully crafted and honed arrow, you will hit the mark.”

~Author Unknown

Scripture:

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one

day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  The

Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness,

but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but

that all should reach repentance.

~2 Peter 3:8-9

Perspective:

God’s timing is not always our timing and waiting can be frustrating, and at times even leave us feeling forsaken, forgotten, overlooked, and maybe even like God just does not care about us.  No matter how painful it feels in our moments of need, the fact is God is present and in control, He has the perfect plan for our good and His glory, and He will not rush those plans to do something to simply satisfy our momentary desires.  Often, we understand His plan with the passing of time.  In time we are able to see the silver lining in the exact way God allowed things to happen or at least we are able to take responsibility for our part and to have our character developed, or to learn a valuable lesson that will benefit us going forward in this journey of life.  But they who wait on the Lord shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:31). 

There are some things in this life that will never make sense to us, such as the loss of a young person.  Sadly, my brother was hit by a car and killed as he walked down the road at the age of 28, leaving behind a wife and two little girls…that will never make sense.  I was 14 at the time and that was to be the first of many losses I was to experience before the age of 50.  As a believer, I must trust that God wanted my brother in Heaven more then on this earth, a reason only He knows.  If we have faith, then we should believe that God had a good reason and that we will be reunited for eternity in Heaven.    

There is purpose to life unfolding in His timing and not ours: it grows our faith and our trust in the Lord, allowing us to lean on Him for strength; it ensures that He will get the glory and praise for the victories and not us; and it develops our character it ways He knows we need it to be improved upon for all He has instore for us.  As Isaiah 55:8-9 says, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.  We have an earthly perspective.  With our limited vision, we want what we want when we want it, which often includes the utmost comfort and convenience.  God, on the other hand, has an eternal perspective, He is all knowing and seeing, He knows what is in our heart before we do.  He has a plan for our good that goes far beyond today or our mere comfort and convenience.  His plan includes our growing in His image, and growth can be painful for it happens outside of our comfort zone.

No matter how terrible, unbearable, or hopeless a situation feels in the moment or even over time, God has the final say as to when and how it evolves.  And in our haste and frustration, we often place a period firmly where God has only put a comma.  Our story in this life is not over until God says it is over.  Remember when Lazarus died and God rose him to life from the tomb, after allowing his family and friends to mourn for four long days?  Who of his loved ones had not put a period, maybe even an exclamation point down in that scenario, but God had only put a comma; Lazarus’ story was not over until God said it was over.  The world also believed Jesus was dead, after all, many saw it with their own eyes.  However, God had a plan and a vital reason for every detail of His plan to raise His son from death in a sealed tomb so that we may be forgiven of our sins and saved from eternal death.  Jesus became sin so that we could escape death and spend eternity in paradise with Him, now THAT is love!

God does not ask us to pretend disappointment does not sting or that waiting is not difficult, but He does ask us to trust Him.  Doing so will give us the peace that protesting His ways will never provide.  To make our wait just a little easier, the Bible is filled with stories about people who waited and waited for God’s promises and plan for their life to come to fruition.  Sarah waited so long for God to bless her and Abraham with the child that He promised them, that she took things into her own hands and had Abraham impregnate her servant, something she regretted deeply after she herself became pregnant…just as God had promised.  Joseph had to endure being sold into slavery by his brothers and then being in prison due to a rejected woman’s lies against him until he finally rose to a key role in Egyptian leadership.  The Israelites waited, and complained, for 40 long years to go into the promised land, after being rescued from slavery.  In that time, they managed to sabotage their entry into the promised land through their mistrust in God’s plan for them.  That trip could have been weeks long as opposed to decades long had they trusted God and learned the lessons He knew they would need to defeat the giants that occupied the land that was to be theirs.  Job suffered unfathomable losses in his life and held fast to his belief in God.  In the end, God rewarded him with more than he had lost.  God is not restricted by age, time, or anything else.  But Jesus looked at them and said, With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).    

God never promised a pain-free world but rather an eternity in paradise. God said, In this world you will have trouble but take heart I have overcome the world (John 16:33).  We live in a broken, sin-filled world and we have free-will, often taking us farther from God’s plan for our life.  The good that God will create in our life, through the vehicle of our faith in Him and through submission to and trust in His will and plan, will not come for free.  It will require us to partner with God and do all we are capable of doing, it will require us to tune in to His voice and follow whatever guidance He gives us, it will require us to be patient and wait for His perfect timing.  If we do not get further guidance from God when we believe we need it, keep doing more of what He told you to do last, for He must not be done with you in that place yet.  We do not have the strength to fight our way through this world filled with trials, hardships, and obstacles but through God’s strength we can do it!  He freely gives us His strength day after day for the asking.  Each day He pours new grace, kindness, and protection over us.  God never grows weary or is taken off-guard; He has no limitations.  The strength and knowledge we have is but a grain of sand on the beach of knowledge and strength that God possesses.

We may think we do not have time to wait on the Lord, but the truth is, do we really have time to waste not waiting on the Lord’s will for our life?  Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord (Psalm 27:14).  Give your situation over to the Lord for it is Him who controls the steps and the outcome.  The Lord shows us how we should live, and he is pleased when he sees people living that way.  If they stumble, they will not fall, because the Lord reaches out to steady them (Psalm 31:23-24).  Pray for His strength as you wait, one day at a time, lean on Him, focusing on all you can do and the ways you can grow in the day.  We can usually make it though anything for one day.  And we just never know when things will change for the better!  Every day God gives us what we need but only for that day, the day we are living in.  Remember Sarah’s regret at taking matters into her own hands as she watched Abraham spend time with his and Hagar’s son, Ishmael, and do not make the same mistake.

Life Applications:

>Keep a journal (the 5-year journal I use is pictured below and available on Amazon) to remind yourself how past less-than-favorable circumstances and prayers have turned out, how they have transformed you and your life, something we can easily forget with the passing of time and the arrival of new trials.

>>I am currently in the middle of a long wait.  Each day I wake up and recommit to trust God and His plan for my life.  I believe in my heart that I am following His lead and I certainly do not know what tomorrow will bring.  I live blessing to blessing and am grateful for each.  One event, at any time, could turn my prayers in my favor, and so I persist and have hope!  For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).

*Have you recommitted to trust God, persist in your work, and have hope today? 

 **Have you shown gratitude for all you do have?  Refuse to let your wait cause you to lose sight of your current blessings!

>>>Contemplate times you have waited on God, or not, in the past and maybe even currently.  What helped you to wait?  And what did not help you so much?  In life, we must intentionally do what works and what is right, we must learn lessons and then use what we have learned to grow and change into the best version of our self.  Do not lose what life has taught you by not using it to create your best self and your best life!