There have been so many occasions in my life when I have been tempted to run ahead of God—in ways I thought were best. Usually because God didn’t appear to be working or at least not working fast enough for my timetable! That's often the case in times that don’t makes sense. Instead of trusting God with the unknown and patiently waiting in His holding pattern, where we’re often uncomfortable and feel helpless, we try to take matters into our own hands.
Abraham, in the Old Testament, also struggled when things didn’t go as planned. He was facing what seemed to be the impossible. God had promised he and his wife Sarah, who was beyond child-bearing years, a child. Instead of being patient and waiting for God to act, Abraham let Sarah talk him into sleeping with her maidservant, Hagar. She ended up conceiving and, as a result, she and Sarah had a contentious relationship with consequences that endured for years. I wonder how many times when “we are troubled on every side” (2 Cor. 4:8, KJV) that we've pulled a Hagar! I know I have too many times to count. I want to take control of situations because it appears like God needs a little (or a lot) of my help.
It's especially difficult when we have done everything we know how to do to honor God only to watch our lives go terribly wrong. The delays, the silence, the inactivity can make the waiting even more excruciating.
When waiting goes on for days, months, and even years, the heart can grow weary and hopeless. There can be an agony of heart that can lose its strength, and without the grace of God, can even sink into despair. And we may not see the beautiful plan God has hiding in the shadow of His hand if we try to mess with His plans. We have to remember that He has information we don’t have and is orchestrating all kinds of circumstances to line up in His timing. I love the quote:
“God has perfect timing. Never early and never late. It takes a little patience and a lot of faith.”
What I have discovered is that just because God seems uninvolved or uncaring, doesn’t mean He’s sitting on His hands in the heavens. His purposes for keeping us in the waiting room is part of His greater plan that we often don’t understand as we wait.
God’s delays teach us about trusting Him. About really believing that His timing is never early or late, but right on time. And that He is working despite what we don’t see. God moves in response to our waiting expectantly on Him and putting our trust in Him not in anything or anyone else.
Have you been tempted to pull a Hagar like me? The problem with pulling a Hagar is you soon discover that the timing you thought was right for a particular situation, isn’t. God wants us to receive the right things from Him at the right time. Waiting is tough and frustrating, even painful, but it requires us to place our trust in the One who knows what’s best for our lives. God's delays will accomplish His divine purposes in our lives if we practice a little patience (sometimes a lot of patience) and a lot of faith!
