I don’t know about you, but time is beginning to feel as if it’s passing us by at high speed lately. This is why I really felt the need to briefly speak about timing, for the last week of August.
I feel as if we live in what we can call a ‘microwave society’. We are so used to things around us happening instantaneously. At a press of a button, we can share our lives, make connections and meet up with strangers. We can order food, shop online, look up any information we want and access anything we need. The world is literally at our fingertips.
And even though this privileged way of living makes life a lot easier, I’ve come to realise that it’s not actually teaching us the foundation of what it means to wait and have patience. As a result, we aren’t so good at understanding time, especially God’s timing. We tend to forget that time is a worldly construct and God cannot be confined to it.
I have come to learn that through the journey of waiting on God’s timing, trust is an important concept that we can often overlook. To really believe in God’s word and His promises, to really trust in His timing, we need to have a lot of genuine faith. It is in fact during times of waiting that God chooses to build trust and faith within us.
I know that from experience, when asking God to direct my steps, to provide or maybe reveal something to me in my quiet moments spent with Him, I almost always expect my prayer requests to be answered then and there and if not, perhaps the very next day. The idea of waiting and appreciating the time it takes to hear from Him or to receive something I have been asking for, was a concept that seemed so foreign to me. You see, I was expecting microwave answers, forgetting that God doesn’t choose to work like that. He is the ultimate chef, busy cooking up a storm behind the scenes. All along He has planned to grow and harvest the best ingredients for my meal, that He has chosen to prepare himself. He also wants to fill it with many intricate flavours. He certainly isn’t going to rush the process because He wants to give me the very best, perhaps not even just one meal, but a whole feast and I know He wants to do the same for you.
We forget that the best food, that fills our tummies, is healthy for our bodies and good for our souls takes time. All good things truly take time. When we are waiting for a meal, we also don’t doubt that our food will show up. We know that it is being prepared and most importantly, who it is being prepared by. This really got me thinking. Why do we then doubt God’s plans for our lives? Why do we doubt that He has no intention of taking care of us and preparing us the very best feast?
The key ingredients here, when it comes to being patient with God and letting Him do his work, I believe, are trust and faith. Choosing to have trust and faith during seasons of waiting, is in fact a choice. It’s hard to believe in something that you can’t see and it often includes personally reminding yourself of who the chef is, especially during times of doubt.
What we receive from God also may not be what we were picturing or hoping for, but it is always better than we could have imagined and ends up being exactly what we need. And the gratitude our hearts get to learn about and are filled with during our times of waiting are certainly extra sprinkles of blessings we get to receive along the way.
I have therefore learned that there is something seriously sacred about seasons of waiting, specifically during the seasons of life that seem a little unclear, where you may catch yourself wondering “What is the point of all of this?” or “What is God trying to do here?”. These seasons not only build our characters, but they can also be used as a time to really understand the way God chooses to work, therefore building our relationship with Him in the process. It’s a time where we can remember that within all circumstances, there is always a purpose. The reasons behind God’s timing will always be revealed to us too and they will always be good.
Five bible verses that have helped me to build my faith and trust in God during my seasons of waiting are:
- Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 – “There is a time for everything…”
- Ecclesiastes 3:11 – “He has made everything beautiful in its time”.
- Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”.
- 3: 5-6 –“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path”.
- Roman 8:28 – “And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose”.
I hope that you found this blog post encouraging, especially if you are in your own season of waiting on God’s timing.
Rest in knowing that His timing will never fail you and He only wants to give you the very best.
Until next week xx
