7 Comforts to Trust God’s Timing

The longer we wait on God to answer a prayer or bring something about, the tougher it is to trust God’s timing. But time is an integral part of God’s will for us. We can trust God’s timing, but often our faith grows thin as we wait on God. I saw this several years ago with a couple in our Bible study group.

“We made a huge decision,” our friends shared during prayer time. In a huge leap of faith, they’d decided to sell their dream home so the wife could stay home with their young children.

July 1st was the last day she could pull out of her teaching contract. But weeks turned into months as the house sat on the market. Had they heard God right? Why hadn’t the house sold?

We kept praying and finally—at the last possible opportunity—the house sold.

“God is never late!” the wife declared that next Sunday.

To which her husband responded, “But he’s rarely early.”

We’ve all been in that waiting place. I want to share 7 comforts to trust God’s timing.

What Scripture Tells us About Trusting God’s Timing

1.God chooses to work gradually over time.

God could do things instantly. He could answer our prayers immediately, heal instantaneously, and meet our need before we even feel it. But it pleases God to unfold his plan over time. “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, ESV)

God took six days to create each detail of heaven and earth. And though he promised a Redeemer after Adam and Eve sinned, it would be thousands of years before the Redeemer was born.

We can trust God has purpose in the time he takes to unfold his plan for us.

2. God isn’t bound by deadlines.

“There is no panic in heaven” Corrie ten Boom has famously said. We may set up deadlines but God isn’t bound by them.

Henry Blackaby tells about waiting on a promised $60,000 wire transfer his congregation needed to finish their church building. Delay after delay stretched them far past their target date until the money was finally wired—on the one day the Canadian exchange rate plunged and doubled the value of the wire transfer. (Experiencing God)

Instead of self-imposed timelines, let’s trust God has unseen purpose and blessing on the other side of our obedient waiting.

3. God knows the end from the beginning.

When I’m in a wilderness of waiting, I want to know when and how it will end. As I read books on grief after my husband died, I turned to the last chapter first–I wanted to know whether this widow had remarried and whether her kids were okay.

God has known from eternity past how our waiting will end. Isaiah 46:9-10 says, “…I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done.” (ESV)

We can trust God with not only the timing but the ending.

4. God gives us enough time to accomplish his will.

The clock ticks, the calendar turns, and we wring our hands worrying we’re running out of time. Jesus’ public ministry was only three years and yet he accomplished everything God intended for him. On the night of his arrest, Jesus said, “I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.” (John 17:4, NIV)

God has intentionally given us each day of our life, from the day we’re born till the day we die. (Psalm 139:16). We can trust God gives us the perfect amount of time to do his will each day and over our lifetime.

5. There’s no fear of missing out.

Ever scrolled through your newsfeed and felt like all the opportunities were passing you by? We’re apt to think we’re missing out and those opportunities will never come again. As the months and years roll by in our wait, our hopes, dreams, and callings can seem fleeting.

But there is no missing out in God’s timing! Sarah and Abraham thought they’d missed out on a child, but God was revealing himself in the wait. Joseph hadn’t been passed by as he languished in prison; God was waiting for the perfect opportunity to catapult him to prominence and influence. And Paul realized the chains keeping him from the mission field actually advanced the gospel far beyond what even he could see, as we read today letters he was compelled to write in prison when he couldn’t visit the churches. (Phil 1:12)

We can trust our God of infinite opportunity who knows the exact right time for us.

6. God uses time to work all things for good.

Most of us are familiar with Romans 8:28 which promises God works all things for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. It’s not that we doubt the promise; it’s that we add three little words: in my lifetime.

While we’re bound by our lifetime, God is not. God is eternal and his work continues long after our life on earth is over. Truth is, we may not see the fullness of God’s good on our timetable or in our lifetime.

Hebrews 11 lists some of the stoutest believers like Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Joseph, Moses and more, all who died still waiting on the fulfillment of God’s promised Redeemer. God commends them for their faith.

They’re our examples to trust God is working all things for good and will do what he’s promised, even if that comes when we’re with him in heaven.

7. Trusting God’s timing keeps us from consequences.

Think waiting on God is hard? Try bearing the consequences of going ahead of him. God kindly shows us the consequences we reap when we don’t trust his timing.

We see that in First Samuel 13 when the Philistines assembled to attack, causing the Hebrews to panic, go into hiding, and flee across the Jordan. Samuel instructed Saul to wait seven days for him to arrive and sacrifice before battle. Saul waited seven days, but when his army began to scatter in fear, Saul took matters into his own hands and made the holy sacrifice. As the smell of roast lamb rose in the air, Samuel appeared. It had been a test and Saul failed. Because Saul didn’t wait on God’s timing, God gave the kingdom to David.

Going ahead of God has consequences for us as well. Tough as it may be, God’s perfect will for us lies on the other side of our patient obedience.

We may never know why God has us wait so long to answer a prayer or bring something about. But he is for us and we can trust his timing. Waiting on God is always worth it.