In His Time

There's something I have seen. Perhaps you've seen it too. Or perhaps you've never noticed.

It happens when someone wants so badly the will of God to take them somewhere that they will stop at nothing to get to wherever they feel "there" is A.S.A.P.

"What's wrong with that?" you ask. Well...sometimes God wants us to wait. And in our impatient world that revolves around things happening instantaneously, that is the last thing we want to hear.

"Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!"

Psalm 27:14

But, there are times we NEED to hear it. And, believe it or not, our heavenly Father knows our needs far better than we do ourselves. That's not to say that we should wait around when it has been made clear what He wants us to be doing NOW. But, it is to say that if you have a call on your life (which we all do), to take chase at God's pace.

When we actively pursue God's will, the thought of waiting can really dampen the mood. After all, you are chomping at the bit to do whatever that thing is, and having to rein it in is hard.

Prime example: A prophecy is spoken over your life, which fully persuades your soul that you need to plow ahead in order to please the Lord. But what if, in your rush to plow, you miss out on some preparation that will make your mission more of what it is meant to be? Perhaps you didn't take the time to clear the field of hazards before you began plowing, which in turn caused you to bend or break the plow blade, which led to: an inability to continue the work ahead of you, lost opportunities while you made repairs, or a messed up field complete with failures that could have been prevented had you been patient enough to take the time to see to all the preparations the Lord has in store for you.

This is in no way to point a finger of judment at someone for failing to wait upon the Lord in their excitement to further serve Him. (I think an overzealousness to serve the Lord is quite a desirable trait.) However, it is to say that just as His thoughts are high above ours, so is His timing.

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven"Ecclesiastes 3:1

One thing we need also be wary of is allowing our excitement to follow God's plan for our lives (or what we perceive to be His plan) become more prominent than our excitement for God Himself. Meaning, should that thing ever begin to overshadow God in importance, we should seriously stop and take a step back and consider if our cause is on He, where it should be. Of what glory is it to God if the thing you are called to do is being done for any reason other than Him?

That's a pretty scary place where we find a lot of "Christians" in our society. Caught between living for God and having some thing they claim to be doing in His name overriding the importance of Him. Or, worse yet, God is all but gone from what is supposedly all about Him. Because if you haven't guessed by now, no matter how much your actions may have been rooted in His plan once upon a time, once they aren't any more, it's a bad place to be.

Back to the original topic. They say delayed obedience is disobedience. I daresay the same is true when God's time has yet to come and still we jump the gun. In a race, jumping the gun is enough to get you disqualified, or at the very least a restart. Another example -- No one just up and runs a marathon on a whim unless they are in the right condition. And to be in the "right" kind of condition to run a race like that typically entails lots of time and training. Even very physically fit people need extra preparation for something like that. Lack of proper preparation can cause a catastrophe. If some out of shape person (such as myself) were to set out to run 26.2 miels on a whim, I would likely: 1) die; 2) need medical attention; 3) never reach the finish line; 4) any combination of the previous options. Each possible ending could easily be prevented by proper preparation.

Granted, this is not true in all situations. Sometimes God calls you to start your journey and He equips you along the way. But I think there are definitely times that he wants us to wait on His will. Maybe it's so He can provide us another person to take along on the journey. Maybe it's so he can prepare our hearts. Or maybe it's for a million other reasons we may never know about. Whatever the case may be, it need not be about you or me. And it definitely shouldn't be something just done on a whim. Do it for Him.

#Timing #Patience #HisPlan #Wait #Season