not now
doesn’t always mean, not ever
Don’t overlook the obvious here, friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day. God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change.
I thought 2023 was going to be “the year”! I really believed that finally this would be the year that God would align all the things He has been doing in my life the past 15 or more years and bring to fruition what I believe He is doing in my life. I believed that He had brought me to a place where all the reshaping, remolding, and redeeming were teed up and this would be my year to write and publish my book and launch some other projects I have been working on.
Instead, there is another, new rumble strip, another fire that has slowed my journey down. CANCER. That ugly, dirty, and vile word. I have gone round and round with God over this new delay. Not so much the “why me,” but more the WHY NOW? I fully believed that God was leading me down this path and I was growing in the ways that He wanted me to grow, and I can honestly say I have been trying hard to let Him lead and refine me through each and every fire, but now this one is slowing down the momentum we had going. More like bringing it to a screeching halt!
Can you relate? Sound familiar to you too?
There are many things that are difficult to understand about God, and a BIG one, is His timing. It’s so difficult to remember that, as the scripture says above, one day to us, is as good as a thousand years to God because we can’t wrap our minds around that concept, but that reality is true. When His timing doesn’t make sense to us, God is generally using that time to stretch our faith and to grow us in ways we don’t even realize we are growing by trusting in Him and relying on His timing.
photo by Jon Tyson @jontyson
While I am frustrated that God’s timing is not my timing, particularly after so many years of what I believe were preparation, here is what I have learned in the waiting…
1. Not now, does not always mean not ever. Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it’s simply to teach us not to be anxious, but to trust Him. Maybe it’s not the right season of life for what we want. Matthew 6:34 tells us, “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today is trouble enough for today.”
2. God’s timing is always perfect! God has a plan for each of us. We can either try to run the show and suffer the consequences, which I have done too many times, or, let Him lead. He is a gentleman. He will not interfere without being invited. His plans always exceed what we can possibly imagine. Jeremiah 29:11-12 tells us,“ 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. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.”
3. God is patient. He wants us to learn patience. Waiting takes patience and trust, and it especially requires faith. “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” Lamentations 3: 25-26
4. God wants our submission. Did you just bristle at that sentence? Submission is a dirty word in today’s culture, but submission to God shows trust, respect, and love. “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” Proverbs 3:5-6
If I have learned anything over the past 40 years of my life, it is that God’s timing is absolutely perfect. He is never too early or too late, as hard as it is for us to comprehend. I know there were many times through the years when I was certain I was ready for and needed particular things to happen in my life, right then in that very moment of time, but they never came to fruition no matter how hard I prayed.
Looking back later, I could see the reason that my timing wasn’t good and His was perfect, and I felt tremendous gratitude He didn’t give me what I wanted in those moments in time. I wasn’t ready for particular opportunities.
I had to grow more.
I needed to learn more.
That person wasn’t right for me.
That friend wasn’t good for me.
That job would have taken me away from my children.
God is trustworthy and His timing is perfect. So, as frustrated as I am that things seem to be stalled again, I will trust in the one who is always true and faithful. He has proven Himself trustworthy before. While I don’t understand His timing, I choose to trust His lead.
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations…Deuteronomy 7:9 ESV
“God causes things to happen at exactly the right time! Your job is not to figure out when, but to make up your mind that you won't give up until you cross the finish line and are living in the radical, outrageous blessings of God! The more you trust Jesus and keep your eyes focused on Him, the more life you'll have. Trusting God brings life. Believing brings rest. So stop trying to figure everything out, and let God be God in your life.”
~ Joyce Meyer
