I have made a terrible mistake over the years of thinking every time the Lord puts on my heart to do something that it needs to happen NOW. I have assumed over and again that His timing for His will for me is IMMEDIATE. A perfect fit for my usual impatience and restlessness and high-speed kind of way, but not at all good in that God has His perfect timing for His perfect will. But in my mind, I figure if I don’t do God’s will as soon as He reveals it to me – i.e. pack my bags and run out the door to do it THIS VERY SECOND – then something is terribly wrong. Yet in truth, what is terribly wrong is when we seek and do God’s will with no regard to His timing.
The time between God revealing His will to us and God wanting us to get started in fulfilling it is VERY IMPORTANT. Why? God may be preparing us for where He is leading us, He may be preparing others to whom He is leading us, He may desire to refine, purify, teach, test, and grow us before we start out where God is sending us, He may want us to rest FIRST, He may have different pieces to bring together before we set out, He may want us to finish something right where we are before moving on, etc. God has His reasons. We need to trust Him!
In my life on the road full-time for Jesus, sometimes I have tried to rush to the next location God has made clear He is sending me BEFORE God’s timing. I have ended up discouraged, down, stressed out, exhausted, worried, disappointed, etc. And I have missed opportunities right where I am because my focus has been for the most part only on where I am going. I have had to learn how to prepare for where God is sending me next while doing my best to fulfill God’s will right where I am. In other words, I am learning to WAIT.
Friend, please pray to God for His will AND for HIS TIMING. And may you and I BE PATIENT as we wait on the Lord before we move ahead.
May the Lord’s will be done in His timing for His glory, AMEN!
“To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:” Ecclesiastes 3:1 NKJV