Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:00 — 4.1MB)
What can you do when you’re on hold—when God has you in a holding room and you feel trapped or helpless or angry—or all of the above?
Step two is to Trust in God’s Timing. Listen to these verses from Psalm 37:5-7:
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
God’s timing often seems so inappropriate to us. What possible good can come from waiting any longer—that’s how we see it. I can look back on my life and see how the waiting periods of my life were there for a purpose—a purpose I did not see or like at the time. But with hindsight, I can now understand that God had a purpose for the delays that seemed so unnecessary to me.
For about four years my church was in the process of opening a residential home for women who have been sexually trafficked or exploited. It was quite a journey, and now we have a beautiful home in just the right place, doing what God has called us to do. But along the way there were two other homes that I thought God wanted us to have, and tried everything possible to make it happen. But the doors closed, and I remember wondering if we would ever find the right house in the right place. Believe me, you run into all kinds of roadblocks when you want to open a home like this. It looked like mission impossible. And then, through one quick reference from one person, I found a house that seemed right, and in incredible speed, we owned that house within a week. When God’s time was right, things moved very quickly, but I couldn’t see that when we were on hold.
Maybe that’s where you are today. You are waiting on God to move and he seems to be quite late. Proverbs 19:2 reminds us that “Desire without knowledge is not good—how much more will hasty feet miss the way!” In other words, impatience will get you in trouble. Running ahead of God is not the way to go. So, can you trust in God’s timing, take your hands off, and wait patiently for him? It’s one of the most important lessons you need to learn if you’re holding on when you’re on hold.