TRUST GOD’S TIMING

If the truth be told, then we were being totally honest. Most of us don't like waiting. Particularly if we're waiting for something to change or something to get better. Waiting can be a very frustrating experience, but the worst kind of waiting of all is waiting on God. When God forces you to wait for things to get better in your life, for things to improve, to change, to reverse, and nothing is happening. And yet, over and over and over and over and over again in the Bible, we're told to wait on the Lord. The most difficult place for you to be in life is in God's waiting room. In God's waiting room. Some of you are in God's waiting room right now. What is God's waiting room when you're in a hurry for something to happen and God isn't? That's God's waiting room. Some of you are in a hurry to graduate. Some of you are in a hurry to get married. Some of you are in a hurry to start a family. Some of you are in a hurry to launch a new business. To close a big deal. Some of you in a hurry for a big goal, a big dream, a big accomplishment. Some of you are in a hurry for all kinds of different things. And God isn't. We as human beings hate to wait and we especially struggle with waiting on God. Have you ever been in a hurry when God wasn't? And you're God. I know you're going to come through and I'm praying this really godly prayer. I know it's your will. So where are you? Why aren't you coming through and you're in the waiting room of life? And we get so impatient. We want a hurry God up and we want things right now. And some of you have been waiting for God to come through and you're about to give up and you're getting discouraged. And you realize that God's standard time is not always running on my time. And it's in the waiting rooms of life we learn to trust God the most. In those difficult waiting rooms of life that's where God grows us and builds our character the most. Through the pain of waiting we learn to trust God and without faith that's impossible to please God. That's when he builds our character. You see while you're working on your project, your goal, your dream, your vision, God's working on you. And God's much more interested in you than in what you're trying to accomplish. Because you're not taking your accomplishments to heaven but you're taking your character. And sometimes God says, "Yeah, I intend to give you what I've promised you. I intend to answer that prayer. I intend to fulfill the vision. But you're not ready yet. I want you to grow and when you're ready then it's going to happen." A lot of times we think we're waiting on God for something to happen like the prayer to be answered. God says, "You're not waiting on me. I'm waiting on you. I'm trying to prepare you. I'm testing your faith. Will you trust me?" But I'm also trying to grow you up because the blessing I want to give you so much bigger than you can handle right now. You're not ready for it. You can't handle it yet. The thing you have to learn in life is that a delay is not a denial. There's a big difference between "no" and "not yet." Now, immature children don't know the difference. You tell a kid, "Not yet. They start crying and having a hissing fit because they think it means no." They don't understand a delay is not a denial. God is saying, "I intend to do these things in your life that I've given you the vision that dream to do, but you're just not ready yet. And at the right time I will answer your prayer. God's often waiting on us." Now, why is this important? Because when you're in God's waiting room, you fall temptation to all kinds of negative emotions. You start worrying, you start stressing out, you get anxious, you get irritable, you get spiritual ADD, you can get envious, you can get jealous. "Hey, he got a promotion. I didn't get the promotion. She's having a baby. I'm not having a baby. She got engaged. I didn't get engaged." He's starting a new business. It's taken off. What about mine? And all these kind of negative emotions can come into your life. And then you get frustrated and then you start having a pity party. So what does God want you to do when you're in the waiting room of life? And you're going to go through it many, many times. God is not a vending machine where you put in the prayer and then you pull the thing and you instantly get it. There's always a delay that delays are by design. The delays are by design. The teach you to trust him and to grow up in your character. "Hey, a delay is not a denial. There's a big difference between no and not yet." For those of your parents, you understand this. There's a big difference between telling your kids, "No, and not yet. It's just not time yet." And a delay is not a denial. We see it all through scriptures. God told Noah to build a boat that would save his family from a great flood, but it didn't rain for 120 years. God told Abraham, "He'd be the father of a great nation." But he didn't have his first child until he was 99 years old. God told Moses that he would lead the people out of slavery from Egypt that had been in for over 450 years. But then God sends Moses out into the desert for 40 years to wait. God gives Joseph this great dream that he'll save his family and his people from famine and he'll be a great leader. But then Joseph gets sold into slavery. He gets falsely accused and imprisoned and he's waiting there in prison until finally God takes him from prison and positions him a second in command in all of Egypt. And the promise comes true. King David, God had King David anointed as King, but he didn't really get to be King until years later. Even Jesus Christ spent his first 30 years waiting in a carpentry shop before he started his earthly ministry. See, a delay is not a denial. When God delays, sometimes we feel forgotten. Psalm 131 says, "How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever?" You come to a point sometimes of believing that God has forgotten you. Don't worry. It's a common experience. We all go through it one time or another, feeling that God isn't there or at the very least he's forgotten us. Perhaps our problems aren't important to him, we imagine. The Psalmist encounters those very doubts in Psalm chapter 10 and verse 1. Here's what he says there. "Why do you stand afar off, O Lord? Why do you hide in times of trouble?" What you believe is that he has given up on you. You may even be feeling that way right now. If so, please allow me to remind you that what you're contemplating is a simple impossibility. God never gives up on you. He never ceases to care about you and he will not abandon his work on you of what your trial is apart. He even says that your name is written on the palms of his hands. Your very name is tattooed on the palms of God's hands. It is engraved there. It cannot be removed and such as God's concern for you. He cannot forget you. No matter what storm you're weathering now, you have never left God's mind or his heart. Yes, sometimes when God delays, we feel forgotten. But God never delays without a purpose. He knows you. He knows your heart. He knows everything you're asking him for. If he's not doing what you think he should do, just be patient. Because God loves you, don't forget. It's got your name tattooed on his palm. He knows who you are. He hasn't forgotten and he never will. The often God's timing disappoints us. Maybe something you've been praying about for a long time. You really need an answer. Maybe you've been praying for something really specific. Maybe God does show up within a particular timeframe. It's an urgent need and he doesn't. When God doesn't answer, when you need him to, I wonder what conclusions do you come to? Do you think to yourself, "Did I do something wrong? Did I ask the wrong way? Do you find this of asking, "Does God even hear my prayers?" So often we think when God doesn't answer in our way or in our time that it's because He doesn't love us, God loves you. He doesn't love anybody else, one grain of sand, more than He loves you. In those darkest moments of life, I want you to hear Jesus looking right through your fear and saying to you, "Trust me. I am right here." God's timing might not have been everything you hoped for in your life, but I hope you understand that you can trust the one who keeps the time clock. We don't like to trust somebody else's timing. Why? Because we lose control. And so we'd rather than trust God because trusting God means my goodness. I actually have to trust God. We'd rather go, "Listen, I like the plan and purpose you have for my life, but can we do it my way?" And here's the funny thing. Now that I'm a parent, I recognize in my children that they don't like it to wait on my timing. They don't like to wait. They don't like to chill and be patient. But the thing is, if they would just trust my timing, they would recognize it's for their good. It's for them to be blessed and prosperous. And so you can live life for straight, anxious, stressed out, angry, or you can rest and go, "God, I have to trust in your timing." Just trust this timing. Why? Because it'll give you peace. It'll give you rest. And it will help you to remove all disappointment and hurt and bitterness from your heart. Because you'll know actually God's in control of you. Why didn't God just tell you everything that's going to happen in your life right at front? Well, I think there are two or three reasons. First, it would overwhelm you. Probably scare you to death. But the real reason God doesn't announce His timetable to you is He wants you to trust Him. He says, "Just live one day at a time. Trust me. I'm a good God. I'm a loving God. Everything I do in your life is for love. But you just got to trust me." In Acts 1 in the Bible, the Bible says this, Jesus said in verse 7, "You don't get to know the time. Timing is the Father's business." So you're just not ever going to know stuff in advance. You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow in your life. Much less the rest of your life. God does not tell us the details in advance. He has a timetable for your life, but He doesn't tell you the details in advance. If you could understand why God does everything God does, you'd be God. God's timing isn't good. It's perfect. Because He knows all the details. He knows past, present, future. He knows what we need, what we want, what's the wisest thing to do. You can never go wrong waiting upon God's timing. If I'm going to wait upon God, I've got to trust Him because my waiting is saying, "I'm trusting you God that your timing is better than mine." You know what I do not know. Your time is always right. And so I'm going to trust you and I'm going to wait till you give me permission to go there or do this or have that above the other. It isn't that God's trying to deprive us of anything. He only wants what is best for us. So it takes faith. And what I mean by that is simple this. "Am I willing to trust God for His timing before I make a decision?" Just imagine how amazing life would be if we could trust God all the time in everything. All the time in everything. And trusting God means that we stop trying to make things happen ourselves. And we wait on God. How many love waiting? We wait on God. It's a painful word even to say it. And God doesn't do it when we'd like Him to or the way we'd like Him to. But I can promise you today if you will keep your eyes on God and trust Him to be your recompense and to be your reward and to be your vindicator, you will get double blessings for your farmer trouble. Trusting Him doesn't mean I'm going to get what I want when I want it. Trusting Him says, "I believe that when the timing is right, God will provide what I'm asking Him for." You know, broken hearts do mend. Bodies do heal. Disappointment turns into new dreams. And the end of one thing can open the door for something new if we will just put our trust in God. You know what? If you're still here on the planet, God's got a plan for you. It seems to you like God's forgotten all about you. Well, He hasn't. He hears you and He sees you. Can I tell you today that you're not invisible? God knows exactly where you're at and He knows exactly what's going on in your life. And He knows exactly how much you can take and how much you can't take. And He may not be early, but He won't be late. God's timing is always perfect. Do I believe that He has our best interest at heart? If I believe that I'm going to wait. But watch this. Somebody says, "I don't have any time to waste. You never waste time waiting on God. Never." You'll always find out that His timing is always the right time. [Music]