Gods Timing

 

We hear allot about Gods timing. I think we’ve all experienced Gods timing in our lives. We want something now.. but it comes later.

We need something soon.. but we have to wait. We’re not good at waiting. I’m guilty of it myself.

So many times God seems to answer prayers in the “eleventh hour”. “What’s the delay?” we think.

There are other times He doesn’t seem to answer some prayers at all.

Hindsight is an incredible thing in life….but especially in our faith life. Those times we feel God doesn’t answer us, is usually because His answer didn’t align with our expectations.

Do you know the story of the woman who was caught up in a huge storm? She prayed to God to save her. A car came by, a boat came by then a helicopter came by

And she told them all the same thing. “Move along…I’m waiting for God to rescue me!”

The punchline of the story is that, when she gets to heaven she asks God why he didn’t save her! God’s response is “I sent you a car, a boat and a helicopter.”

The point is that we have to be careful not to miss Gods answer because we’ve already decided what it will look like.

So, we either miss God working in our life because we don’t see it or we can’t wait for it.

It reminds me of Exodus 32. We might recall that even after Gods people had been liberated from Egypt by the parting of the Red Sea, been fed manna from the sky and given water from a rock, they lacked faithfulness.

After all these miraculous events Moses goes up on the mountain to talk to God and it says (vs1) “When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. “Come on,” they said, “make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.”

Read that again keeping in your mind all that they had seen God do thus far.

Hard to believe right?

Not only are they impatient they're unfaithful.

Before I get too self-righteous with this piece of scripture I have to do a little soul searching. Haven’t I done the same thing at times?

God doesn’t “show up” when expected and so I start to depend on other things to focus on.

I start to lean on my own strength and understanding……..only to fall flat on my face.

Anyone been there with me?

There is no doubt, waiting stinks. Uncertainty is horrible. Unsatisfied anticipation is frustrating. But if they only knew….

The reader knows what’s going on at the top of that mountain. God is laying out detailed instructions for Moses to bring back to the people. Details are being put together. Questions are being answered. Moses is interceding on behalf of the people, but the people don’t seem to have that kind of time.

While you wait for that prayer.

While you sit in your uncertainty.

While you become frustrated in your unsatisfied anticipation; God is working in the details. God is putting answers to questions. God is laying out a plan.

While Jesus intercedes on our behalf, trust him.

If you only knew…

We might at times feel like saying “We don’t know what happened to Jesus” or turn to other “gods” in our life to try and solve our issues, but we’re told over and over in scripture to be patient.

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”

— Romans 12:12

God is working behind the scenes on every detail of our lives. He see’s even more than we are aware of. He knows more about your worries, issues and problems than you do!

“But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”

— Romans 8:25

That thing called hindsight can teach us allot about our faith. Think back to things you’ve prayed for and how God answered them in a more extravagant way than you could have ever imagined. Remember those times when we realized Gods timing was much better than ours?

Waiting for answers to our difficulties can be a heavy burden to carry. That’s why we lay our burdens at the feet of Jesus while we wait.

 Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

— Psalm 27:14

Why do you think there is so much scripture about being patient? Because God knows we are not.

 Hang on. It may seem like God isn’t listening, but He is. It might seem like the answers are not coming but they will; in Gods perfect timing. Remember Davids words in Psalm 40.

I waited patiently for the Lord to help me,

and he turned to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the pit of despair,

out of the mud and the mire.

He set my feet on solid ground

and steadied me as I walked along.

He has given me a new song to sing,

a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see what he has done and be amazed.

They will put their trust in the Lord.

Let’s wait on the Lord patiently together. He hears your cry and will lift you too out of the pit of despair. He will put your feet on solid ground and give you a song to sing.

 

-Pastor Patti