Waiting on God - His Perfect Timing
God’s always perfect timing can be one of the largest hurdles we have to understand in our lives.
I am sure each one of us can easily recall various times in our life praying day, after day, after day, after day for some situation? Perhaps it was for healing, for provision of finances, for a life-partner, for anyone of a hundred different things, people, or situations. Yet, it seemed as if those prayers were unanswered, as if God was just letting you remain in a state of limbo without a clear answer.
The world around you was continuing to move on while leaving you in a place you did not want to be. I can well recall times in my own life seeing people happily living their lives, wondering how could they do this? Impatiently, I wanted God acting now to resolve my situation. Furthermore, I did not want to endure another day of unanswered prayers.
We all want good things to happen in our lives, but too often we want it now, not later. When it doesn't happen that way, we are tempted to ask, "When, God, when?" Most of us need to grow in the area of trusting God instead of focusing on the "when" question. If you are missing joy and peace, then most likely you are not fully trusting God.
Realising God’s timing in my life has been one of the BIGGEST lessons I have had to learn. Often this is not easy, but involves a conscious daily commitment to patience and surrendering my life to Him. Through it all, however, it can be one of the most freeing and peaceful lessons you can learn.
1. God has a timetable for everything that happens
“There is an APPOINTED TIME for everything, and there is a RIGHT TIME for every event under heaven” Eccles 3:1 (NASB)
God uses the phrase “right time” 96 times in the Bible. God has a right time for everything! This verse lets us know that we do not all live in the same season at the same time. We should never be jealous of someone who is enjoying harvest while we are still in the planting season. Remember, they had to go through a season of planting just as you might be now. Seeing the results that person might now be enjoying should actually be an encouragement to understand and trust that God is doing the very best for you in your present season. Seeding time represents learning the will of God. Each time I choose God's will instead of my own, I am planting a good seed that will in God’s timing bring a harvest.
2. God does not tell us the details in advance
“God has given us a desire to know the future. He always does everything just right and on time, but people can never completely understand what He is doing” Eccles. 3:11 (NCV)
There are three primary reasons why God does not show us the future:
It would scare us, and possibly overwhelm us.
We would try to manipulate it.
God wants us to TRUST Him completely.
“Jesus answered, The Father is the One who sets the fixed dates and the times of their fulfillment. You are not permitted to know the timing of all that He has prepared by His own authority” Acts 1:7 (The Passion Translation - TPT)
3. God is never in a hurry, and He’s never late
2 Peter 3:8 (TPT) “So, dear friends, don’t let this one thing escape your notice: a single day counts like a thousand years to the Lord Yahweh, and a thousand years counts as one day.”
God’s sense of time is very different to our own. God is timeless and He is not bound by time. God’s timing is perfect. Most times I am in a hurry and God is not. My timing is imperfect. God is not early, nor late…He is always right on time!
GOD speaking to the prophet Habakkuk: “For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay.” Habakkuk 2:3 (NASB)
3. God’s timing is not always convenient
Everything God does is out of love. God is love! Everything happens at the right time, and not at the easiest time with no pain involved.
4. At the right time God can do anything instantly
God spoke the entire universe into existence instantly. We try to accomplish things in our way, in our own time, and our situation is not going anywhere.
God said: “I am the Lord, and when it is time, I will make these things happen quickly.” Isaiah 60:22 (NCV)
Too often we try to take control over every part of our situation. We try doing things we feel are right without asking God first, invariably for the situation to only get worse. Nothing short of complete surrender to God is what is required; only then are things likely to start to change for the better.
THE MOST DIFFICULT PLACE TO BE IN LIFE IS GOD’S WAITING ROOM - YOU ARE IN A HURRY AND GOD IS NOT!
I believe these words sum up for many of us in just one sentence how we can feel at times. Why is this taking so long God, why do I have to go through all this, I am tired Lord, I cannot do another day of this… Lord why is this continuing on?
The book of Genesis tells the story of Joseph, who waited many years for the fulfillment of the dream God had given him. He was falsely accused and imprisoned before the time came for him to do what God had shown him he was to do. The book of Exodus tells us that God led the Israelites the longer, harder way on their journey to the Promised Land because He knew they were not yet ready to go in. There had to be time for their training, and they had to go through some very trying situations. They wasted a lot of time wondering about God's timing, but God never failed to take care of them and show them what He wanted them to do. The same is true in our lives.
Seven years ago the out-break of civil war suddenly forced the abandonment of the agricultural project which I managed in South Sudan. At the time I was owed by my employer more than one year’s salary payments. This sudden change of circumstances with four children to support subsequently left us in an extremely tenuous situation for several years. It was, however, a great time of spiritual growth as a couple and family where we came to clearly recognise God as our source, much more clearly than at any point previously in our lives. With the passing of time God also plainly guided my patient handling of the relationship with my former employer so that exactly at His timing when His plans were ready to be revealed the long-owed moneys are now moving for God’s purposes to be fulfilled. God’s perfect timing, almost seven years later.
So why are there delays that do not fit to our timetable:
To test our faith, and
To grow our character.
God is more interested in what you become, than what you do.
The Lord says: “At the RIGHT TIME I will answer your prayers!” Isaiah 49:8 (NCV)
God answers EVERY prayer…. “no” is an answer, and “not yet” is an answer. A delay is not a denial. When we experience a delay it tends to cause a lot of negative emotions. A delay creates stress, anger, worry, envy, and sometimes self-pity.
Such delays can seem to be the hardest times and lessons in our life. The salary payment delay I described was YEARS, not days, weeks, or months. In that period we certainly learnt to trust God more completely than ever previously. We learnt to hand over and depend more than ever on God as our source. God wanted us to completely trust Him, and Him alone.
God wants us to do four things while we are in His WAITING ROOM:
Fear Not
Fret Not
Forget Not, and
Faint Not
1.FEAR NOT! Trust God completely
Instead of fear dominating my life, I now have faith dominating my life. Over the years I have learnt to trust God in times that I do not understand. Trusting God causes my fear to subside. In researching this message I read varying accounts that the phrase “fear not” appears in the Bible anywhere from 200 up to 365 times – if it is the later, then that’s one “fear not” verse for every day of the year!
Jesus said: “Don’t yield to fear. All you need to do is keep on believing.” Mark 5:36 (TPT)
2. FRET NOT! Be patient and humble
When I checked the definition of the word fret it says: to be constantly or visibly worried or anxious.
Every time you wait patiently on God, it is a sign of faith and humility.
“Wait and trust the Lord. DON’T FRET when others get rich or when someone else’s plans succeed. And don’t get angry or upset – it only leads to trouble.” Psalm 37:7-8 (NCV)
Too often we can have our eyes on others, instead of focussed on God. We are comparing ourselves and our situation to others. Worry is worthless! You are wasting that moment. Worry cannot control the past or the future, it messes up the right now. Instead of worrying - PRAY!
“Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell Him every detail of your life.” Philippians 4:6 (TPT)
3. FORGET NOT! Study God’s promises to you
The Bible is filled with the promises of God to each of one of us, more than 6,000 promises in fact. It is our OWNER’S MANUAL of life.
“If you keep looking closely into God’s perfect Word that sets people free, and you keep on studying it, and you DON’T FORGET it, and you put it into daily practice – you will be BLESSED by God in ALL you do!” James 1:25
4. FAINT NOT! Don’t give up
“So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the RIGHT TIME we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up or quit” Galatians 6:9 (The Message)
DON’T GIVE UP - LOOK UP!
Remember that it is all in God’s perfect timing. He has a timetable for everything, He does not tell us all the details, God is never in a hurry, He is never late, and His timing is not always convenient! Consequently, in the storms of life we can trust God, we can be patient and humble, we can count on God’s promises and keep our eyes on Him. Our job is not to figure out when, but to make up our mind that we will not give up until we cross the finish line and are living in the radical, outrageous blessings of God. Trusting God brings life. Believing brings rest.
I pray a blessed week ahead for each and every one of you in daily walk with the Lord. May His perfect timing be revealed in some aspect of your life this week to encourage and draw you closer to Him.
