God’s timing is impeccable—never early, never late. It requires patience and unwavering faith, but the wait is always worthwhile. His plans, though sometimes painful and difficult, are the best for us. When God is silent, rest assured, that He is at work on your behalf. Sometimes, He closes doors to push us forward because He knows us intimately. Often, we need circumstances to force us into the direction He wants us to go.
God’s Three Responses to Prayer
God answers prayers in three ways: Yes, because you deserve it; No, because you deserve better; and Not yet, because the best is yet to come. Ecclesiastes 3:11 reminds us that everything is beautiful in its time, and God has set eternity in our hearts. This chapter teaches us that there is a time for everything—a time to laugh, cry, sow, reap, toil, and harvest. Bad days are a part of life, just as good days are. You will have days of weeping or mourning but you will also have days of happiness and rejoicing. Psalm 30:11-12 AMPC states, “You have turned my mourning into dancing for me; You have put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, To the end that my tongue and my heart and everything glorious within me may sing praise to You and not be silent.” The Bible also tells us that rain falls on both the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45), and that, “ “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). Periods of waiting are difficult especially when you feel that you urgently need a change, but they can lead to profound personal and spiritual breakthroughs, offering reassurance and motivation to keep faith alive. We should remember those triumphs so that we can draw strength and reassurance from them in future times of waiting.
Trusting God’s Process – Not Ours
We often try to pressure God to act on our timetable, forgetting that He is not bound by human constraints. Not only that, we forget that he knows all things and knows what is best for us. After all without Him, we would not even exist. We often “take things into our own hands” and when they don’t work out in the way we anticipated, guess who we blame? Of course, God. We say God why didn’t you warn me not to take the job? Why didn’t you stop me from going on that trip? Why did you not prevent me from marrying that man or why didn’t you show me that his parents are so evil? Yes, when things don’t go as planned, we question Him and lose faith. Trusting God during the waiting period is where our spiritual maturity develops, so as painful as it may be, it is necessary! The Bible says that strong food is for the mature – those trained to distinguish good from evil. Our senses must undergo trials and tests to grow in faith.
The Example of Abraham’s Faith
If Abram (later renamed Abraham) lived in our time, he might have struggled to trust God’s promise of a child in his old age. Yet, he waited, but eventually, Sarai his wife (later renamed Sarah) urged him to have a child with her maid Hagar as she felt she was too old to get pregnant and give birth. She doubted God’s word and it is not difficult to understand why she did. She even laughed at the idea and then denied she had done so. God was true to His word and at the appointed time Isaac was born of Sarah. This led to a multitude of descendants from Abraham’s seed just as God had promised. God works on a principle of time manipulation, thinking in terms of generations. His promises are always fulfilled at the right time, often in ways we can’t even imagine. A great example of trust and faith involved Abraham and the son God gave him in his old age. Oh yes, do you remember that this was the same son that God told Abraham to offer as a sacrifice to Himself? After all of that the “Miracle child – the gift from God” was to be killed by His own father, Abraham. How would Abraham’s lineage continue? How would his generation become as numerous as the sands of the seashore? What a task to be given by the God you trust and worship! Yet, Abraham did not waiver. He set out to do exactly as God had instructed him. Wow! Obedience without question and without wavering. Just as Abraham was about to offer up Isaac God made him stop and provided a ram to be offered up instead. I often wonder whether Isaac eventually realized that he would have been killed. He asked his father where was the ram, but it’s not clear whether he had seen his father raise the knife to kill him. This was the foreshadowing of Jesus offering Himself to wipe out our debts from sin. The Christian life is a walk of faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
God’s Ways Are Higher than Ours – No Comparison
Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.” God knows everything from beginning to end. He understands that the storms in our lives are meant to strengthen us, not harm us. He knows what’s best for us and who belongs in our lives. He will turn our mourning into dancing and our darkest nights into bright mornings. Many of us have held on to the words in Jeremiah 29:11 and found strength and motivation from them in some of our darkest times. It states, “’ 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.’”. Jeremiah 29:11 is one of the most often quoted verses in the Bible. You’ve seen it, haven’t you?
God knows us more than we know ourselves. Oh yes! He knows every strand of hair on our heads, He knows our thoughts before we even think them. God knew us from the foundations of the earth. Isaiah 56:8-9 says, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts and my ways are far beyond what you can imagine.” We know this, yet most of us do not trust God as much as we should. That is why children are quoted in the Bible as having more faith than adults. Jesus says in Luke 18:17, “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” Oh, to have the faith of a child! We should fall on our knees before Jesus instead of trying to tackle all of life’s challenges on our own. Isaiah 11:6 “A little child shall lead them,” gives more insight into this child-like faith which we all need to develop as children of God. God’s plans, though often challenging, are ultimately for our good. If you are facing years of hardship, be encouraged and inspired. God’s promises are worth the wait.
Faith Beyond Words
It’s easy to say, “I trust God,” but it’s harder to truly trust His timing and process. When situations become unbearable, our true faith is tested. We often lose patience when God doesn’t meet our deadlines, forgetting that His plans are far better than ours. When we consider how tiny a mustard seed is, the size of the tip of a pen, yet, Matthew 17:20-21 of the bible tells us that if we have faith the size of a mustard seed we can move mountains. Trusting God’s timing means asking His guidance for our plans, including Him in them, and being patient as He works in our lives. Trusting in God’s timing can transform periods of waiting into opportunities for growth and spiritual maturity, offering hope to those who are enduring difficult times.
Peter’s Lesson About Trust
In Luke 5, Jesus used Peter’s boat to teach a lesson about trust. After speaking to the people, He saw Peter and the fishermen washing their nets as they had completed that fishing trip. Jesus entered Peter’s boat and told him to row the boat into deeper waters and that they should cast out their nets to catch fish. Peter explained to Him that they had worked all night without success, but he obeyed and so did the others. Their nets caught so many fish that they began to break. Peter and the others would have missed this blessing had they not obeyed and trusted Jesus’ word and timing. Similarly, God knows what we need and will provide it at the appointed time. We need to trust Him even though we may be bombarded, pressed, and want to take matters into our own hands.
Endurance and Faith
God’s timing includes both good and bad days for a reason. They teach us valuable life lessons and help to build our trust and faith in Him. Jeremiah 29:11 assures us that God’s plans are for our peace and hope. You may have been waiting for years to see a particular move of God in your life and you are growing weary and wondering if you should continue to hope. Don’t give up! It has not happened yet, but you will receive your “net-breaking blessing” in God’s perfect timing. Take the bitter medicine; when you receive the sweet one it will be even better than you expected! The waiting periods and days of struggling teach us to endure and to trust, and the good days when blessings are bestowed upon us give us reasons to be happy and to trust God more. God will give you much to smile and rejoice about. He demands complete trust and faith out of genuine love and compassion because He always has our best interests at heart.
Conclusion
Don’t be tempted to follow your thoughts or someone else’s. Trust in God’s timing. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” as stated in Proverbs 3:5. Do as the verse further instructs, “In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths”. Endure the waiting period with faith, knowing that God is working everything out for your good. When God finally acts, it will be more than worth the wait. His plans will bring you joy and blessings beyond your imagination. Remember, God never goes back on His word. Remember Abraham and Sarah?! God does not lie. He is the Father of Light and abundant life, and always keeps His promises.