To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3
God’s timing…have you noticed…it’s different than our timing?
Remember the ‘road trips’ when you were a kid? The most frequently asked questions were: “How much further?” or “Are we there yet?” I have vivid memories, as a child, of traveling with my family from IL. to N.D., my parents homeland. Mom and dad would load us up in our 58 Edsel and head north. Of course back then no stopping at hotels or restaurants…a loaf of bread and a pound of baloney and we were good to go! But for us the nagging question always was, “Are we there yet?”
TIME…it is something that we all have in common, and it plays a central role in all of our lives. We are servants to time…we cannot move it along faster, nor can we slow it down. I remember when TV dinners made their entrance into the American home, I must admit that that invention probably saved my marriage in those early years. A few years later when the microwave was introduced my world was changed forever! We have ‘instant’ everything today…We are a people that do not want to ‘wait’ for anything. We want… what we want…. and we want it… now! It seems so difficult to wait for anything…in the natural but how about when we are ‘waiting’ for God to speak or move in situations or issues of life? Listen, waiting on God is the rule not the exception.
When it seems there are no open doors, we many times try to force the lock; ‘our’ wisdom and strategy then kicks in and we attempt to compensate for our lack of trust! Not until history has run its course will we totally understand how “all things work together for good.” We know that ‘faith’ is believing in advance what will only make sense when it is passed but none of us learn this lesson quickly.
Psalm 13:1, How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? The Message translation puts it this way…Long enough, God— you’ve ignored me long enough. We are all ‘waiters’…in some area of our lives we are all waiting for God…
Noah waited 120 years for that rain. Abraham received a promise, he waited 100 years for the realization of that promise. Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness learning to wait on God, replacing his trust in himself to trusting and waiting on God. Joseph endured 14 years inside a prison cell for a crime he did not commit….he had to wait on God for the timing of his deliverance and fulfillment of the dreams. When our dreams are delayed, we have, what I call, the “Joseph Syndrome”….dreams but delayed destiny! Joseph, like you and me, had to ‘wait’ for his time to come because he had to ‘wait’ for God’s time.
We don’t like being unable to control things…we hate the feeling of utter helplessness…we despair when things happen that we cannot manage. We always look for ways to ‘nudge’ the arm of providence. Don’t try to manipulate God’s timing for you. It is His timing and that usually includes waiting. The difference between waiting and worrying is focus. Our dreams must be bigger than just our memories, more controlling than our agenda, and louder than our thoughts. We must not fret, God knows where we are!!! ‘You’ may not know where you are but be assured He knows!
God’s Timing…it’s different than our timing. We have to remind ourselves that trials aren’t forever, our trust is not in vain, and God never fails.
Since before time began no one has ever imagined, No ear heard, no eye seen, a God like you who works for those who wait for him. Isaiah 64:4
Yes, indeed!