God’s Time is His Own
Written by Jennifer P.

 

Have you ever noticed how fast life seems? We have so many things to do and so little time to do it in. With this society getting faster naturally we need conveniences to accommodate our lifestyle of “on the run.” I have noticed this growing trend as I have gotten older and as my family’s lives have gradually gotten faster and more complicated. First it was music and play practices in high school, then it went to college. You would think that once you graduate from school, life would slow down a bit, but it actually accelerates. With activities, job, family chores, shuttling younger siblings to their practices, etc., it is hard to enjoy some of the most basic needs of our personal life. Take for example family meals—they are almost unheard of. So we turn to the “conveniences” I mentioned above. We have fast-food restaurants and microwave meals for those who need to grab dinner “on the go,” cell phones to keep connected with family and friends who are out and about, e-mail or instant messaging instead of snail mail, and to top it all off, internet shopping so you can order from your home what ever you want at the click of a button. I used to get a kick out of watching the students in the Snack shop at BJU waiting for their lunch to heat up in the microwave. They would stand there anxiously, whispering under their breath, “come on, come on hurry up!” Then when it was finished they would choke their food down and run off to class. This scenario usually took only 2-3 minutes. The microwave wasn’t even fast enough for them!

With this kind of lifestyle, no wonder we find waiting for God’s timing hard. Burger King came up with the slogan “Have it your way, right away…” and I think this embodies our culture very well. We are used to getting it our way, right away. If the 50 some choices of pizza at Dominoes still aren’t to your liking then you can create your own and it will be delivered to your door in 15-30 minutes. Unfortunately we have developed a habit of treating God like He is another convenience. We pray only when we are in trouble or want something. Then when God doesn’t answer us with an answer that fits our liking, we get mad at Him. We want Him to give us what we want, when we want it. My dear ladies, we need to stop and reconsider what our purpose for life is. Who do we think we are to order God to work on our terms?

So who are we really? We are part of God’s creation, that only lives 70 some years, formed from the dust of the earth, on a tiny planet no bigger than a mille-speck of dust in the huge universe, placed somewhere within God’s Heaven. Suddenly I feel really small. “Why” I then ask myself, “would God even pay attention to my little pathetic life?” Because He loves me. Me! Little tiny Jennifer Perkins known only by my family and friends. He loves me and created me to Glorify Him! How often I get caught up in my own life though, and lose sight of that big picture. It is in these moments that I find it so hard to wait on God’s timing for my life. This has been a struggle for me since I moved back home from Camp Joy. I knew God had brought me home, but I had no job, no prospects of marriage, and no leading from God as to what the next step should be. I had plans when I went into college: I would meet a young man my senior year, get married after graduation, and go straight to serving God in a ministry somewhere. I didn’t meet the young man, but I did go to Camp where I spent two years of my life serving God with my art talents. I had plans to get married after my contract at camp was over and “move on with life,” as I called it. Once again, God changed my plans and I found myself at home totally lost as to what to do next. I looked for work, but every job I prayed that I could have, God said “No.” Every time I tried to go back to camp to see the people I had come to love, God said “No.” My reaction was to cry out “Why God, what do You want with me, what do You want me to do if You won’t let me do these other things?” I am sure you can understand my feelings. I was becoming rather discouraged with my life. But God graciously opened my eyes to what He was doing with me and changed my whole perspective. I was frustrated—and yes, maybe even angry— with God for taking every thing I had taken for granted away from me. I kept telling Him that His will came first, but I would cry bitterly every time I gained another disappointment. Just like Peter who took his eyes off of Jesus and began to sink into the raging sea, I too had lost sight of God and was sinking into my own sorrows and despair. This world is full of Christian people who are doing this very thing every moment of every day. Once I gave up my ideals and surrendered my life once again to God to truly do with as He willed, my distress gave way to overwhelming peace. Not to say the road ahead will not still be hard. I have much more “fire” to go through before I can come forth as gold. But I will never make it if I take my trust from God.

Job could not understand why he was going through the trials he went through, nor did he ever learn what God was really doing. It took many years before Joseph saw God’s reason for his being sold into slavery. Yet these men had a hold on what it took to get them through their trials. They kept their eyes on God and gave Him the rule over their lives. God had the right to do with them what He wanted, just as He does with me. Who am I to question God?

When I was in Cambodia, I learned to appreciate a slower lifestyle. We had an old gas stove to cook our meals on and we had to buy what we needed for every day’s meals at the market. It took lots of time to prepare each meal. Yet I learned to appreciate the way each person had time to drop what they were doing and pay attention to other people’s needs. There was a special fellowship between the ladies as they would sit together under their houses and prepare a meal together. I don’t know about you ladies, but some of my favorite times are when my entire family is in the kitchen preparing a meal together. We share what happened during our day, catch up on each other, discuss scripture topics and any other topic that we think of. And in that time we are drawn closer together. In the same sense, we need to spend more time in fellowship with God. The more we give Him time, the more we will learn to accept His time. It is the bending of our wills to Him and drawing closer to Him in the midst of our trials. Sometimes if it were not for our trials, we would not come to God. We have to come to Him on His terms, not our own.

“Wait on the Lord: be of courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait I say on the Lord.” –Psalm 27:14

I have been working on memorizing the verse “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13) to help me through my struggles. What a comfort to know that we will see His goodness in the land of the living. Job was blessed by God after his testing was over, and his wealth was doubled over that which he had possessed before. Joseph was made ruler over all Egypt second only to Pharaoh. Not to say that I am expecting a triple digit salary, a husband, and family of my own as soon as this trial is over, but I am expecting to be blessed by Him. We need to focus on what God is ultimately doing instead of our own wishes and wants. God’s time is his own and we need to give it back to Him.