What if God’s Timing is Taking Too Long??
In the next few weeks, I plan to take a trip to NY to photo journal all the places my father lived and worked. If you were to ask me why, the best I can offer you is “I’m not sure… I just know I need to do this.” For those who really know me… this is definitely *not* me… I mean, doing something without knowing *all* the facts? Sacrilege! I’ll be voted out of the ‘Engineer’s Club’!! Doing something without having *all* the facts? What is going on here? What is happening to me? Perhaps I’m learning to trust God more… that He knows all things and that I can give myself a break… that I don’t have to know every little detail about everything before I move… to rely more on Him than me. I believe this is called trust.
I lost my Dad in April of 2012. Since that day, I’ve continued to ask God why He chose to take my Dad before I could really speak with my him on a deeper level after years of work to resolve parent/child issues from when I was younger. And still… no answers. I thought, “I’ve done the work, shouldn’t that count for something? Please answer me.” And still… no response.
I believe in a very similar way, we all want answers to some question(s) we hold deep in our hearts or we want something good to happen in our lives. But too often, we want responses now… in our time. After all… who knows us better than… well, us? What I’ve learned is that this ‘need to know *now*’ mindset is exposing a need to grow in the area of trust for God instead of focusing on when He will (or might!) respond. If I’m not experiencing joy and peace in the midst of the turmoil, I’m not trusting God. If I consume my thoughts of ‘figuring it out’, I’m not trusting God.
As humans, we think with know all the answers… even believing that if we knew everything, we’d be happier and could move on with our lives. What we don’t take into consideration is the potential danger that comes with knowing the very details we seek. We rarely take into consideration that once questions are answered, the answers themselves could leave us stating “I wish I didn’t know that.” Perhaps, God knew that the answers to questions we were asking would hurt us and He was once again loving us… only in this case, shielding us from knowledge that would hurt our heart. I’ve spent the better part of my life being impatient for answers to questions I’ve had. God had to deal with my stubbornness and patiently waited… and in His gentle way, teaching me to leave things alone, breaking me of my need to know all things and in my time. I’m still learning to trust my Father, who knows all things and accept the fact that He doesn’t owe us an explanation and there will be times, that no answer has meaning. The fruit of this process is a trusting in God when we refuse to worry.
For most of my adult life, I’ve survived by relying on data to make decisions. I believe that this is one of my many gifts… discernment through analysis. But, I’ve learned that that is a good start, but God desires a deeper level of discernment. I believe that logical thought is good, but coupled with an understanding of who God is in the midst of our questioning is faith on steroids! When we’re willing to acknowledge to God that we can’t figure out a problem or why the outcome to a circumstance is what it is, we release the desire to solve it on our own and we can remain comfortable in the unknown. The process of trusting God requires not knowing how God is going to accomplish what needs to do, nor the time He chooses to do it. If God is never late in what He does, He’s also never early… His timing is *perfect*! Why? Because God uses times of waiting to stretch our faith in Him to bring about change and growth in our lives. I want the kind of faith spoken in Psalm 27… the confidence in the knowing God will take charge in all circumstances. What else but complete submission is the appropriate response to a God that is mindful of man (Hebrews 2:6)?
Heavenly Father, teach us to seek You in all circumstances. If there’s a need to be still while You do Your work, give us peace in the moment. We don’t want to do this life alone… help expose Your will for our lives so that we can live a life that is pleasing to You always. Amen.
gstefanelli (Greg Stefanelli)
Sixty-six books in a year 
Greg, it’s refreshing and uplifting to see how your journey is leading you away from ‘head thinking’ to how God is speaking to your soul. How He is made strong in oir human frailty. I am thankful that through your writing here God has revealed that no matter the question…He is the answer. The way, The truth, and The life. Thank you for genuine humility. It’s a precious thing when we grow in genuine humility to His sovereignty! Thanks for sharing Hus truth.