“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11
I don’t know what caused me to wake up around 1:30 AM a few days ago and chuckling to myself. At the conclusion of a NyQuil nightmare I was dreaming about a Sunday School Christmas program practice a few weeks before the BIG day…back in the day. Things weren’t going well; it seemed to resemble the Mayberry City Band before the professional subs arrived. I was thinking about recruiting a few Baptist kids to fill the ranks in the 8th grade. Our DCE Bob Ewell told me to not worry, the Holy Spirit would be there. Everything would be fine.
When you get frustrated, get in a hurry and try your darndest to mold this world into what you see as being proper and God pleasing; slow down and have a talk with your creator. If you want to slow down your life, you’ve got to learn to trust God’s timing.
When things aren’t happening as quickly as you hoped, it’s easy to get impatient. But do you know what impatience really is? It’s a lack of trust. I didn’t trust the kids or their parents to help them learn their parts. When you’re impatient, it’s like you’re saying, “God, I don’t really trust you. I don’t think you have my best interest at heart. I’m in a hurry for something, and I don’t believe you know when I need it.” You get worried, you get hurried, and you start scurrying around in so many directions because you don’t trust God to do things at the right time and in the right way; your way.
If you’re like me and most people, when you want something, you want it fast, right now. But is fast always better? Not always.
God has a plan and a purpose for your life. He created you with a one of a kind plan and purpose. You probably know that already. But he also has a timetable for your life. Here’s the thing: God never explains his timetable. And sometimes that can be really difficult to accept.
One of the most painful things in life is when you’re in a hurry and God’s not. As you were growing up and maturing, you prayerfully learned the difference between “no” and “not yet” in your prayer life. A delay is not the same as a denial.
As a follower of Jesus Christ, you have to learn the same thing: God’s delay is not His denial. He has a plan and a timetable and His timing is perfect.
Has God given you a vision that hasn’t become reality yet? It’s coming; but on God’s timetable. In the meantime, slow down and trust Him. I can tell you from experience as I think about the growth of the Trinity HOPE feeding programs in Haiti. God is using people like you and me to feed His children attending Christian schools in Haiti; in His timing.
Dear Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you,
Jay