Over the course of my life, I’ve had the opportunity to work on several worthwhile projects. Some of those projects were immediate successes. Some of those projects appear to have been destined for the scrap pile of history. And some of those projects took years to advance. Perhaps, with hindsight, I can see why some of those projects deserved to fail, or to take a while to progress, but when I started working on them, I thought that they were worth putting my time into with the assumption that they would succeed.
From my perspective as a pastor, I have often told people that God answers prayers in one of three ways: yes; no; and not now. That would certainly seem to mirror the categories for my projects as mentioned above. Sometimes, God has concurred that I was working on the right project at the right time, so it succeeded. Sometimes, I was working on the wrong project, so it was going to fail regardless of the timing. And finally, sometimes I was working on the right project but the timing was off, and patience was required. Yes, no, and not now.
The ”not now” category is perhaps the hardest to deal with, because the lack of progress is typically seen as a sign of failure, or at least the sign of the wrong idea. Yet there is never a wrong time to do the right thing, even if the results of that action aren’t immediately evident. Sometimes there are multiple other issues that also need to be addressed before a project will bear fruit, requiring other actors working on their own timelines, which ultimately places both the timing and the outcome outside of your control. It can be difficult for us to see that our actions are only a part of the puzzle.
The Apostle Paul wrote about the importance of timing to the young church in Galatia, stating “4But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal 4:4-5). The ultimate good idea – the birth of a savior – required a particular timing for it to be effective under God’s plan. The Hellenization of Eastern Europe, Western Asia and the Middle East by Alexander the Great ensured that Greek was a common language for a significant portion of the population. The subsequent success of the Roman Empire with their army and their road building skills ensured that there were safe and secure transportation routes throughout the aforementioned region along which news of the Messiah could be carried. Additionally, Daniel the prophet had written some 700 years earlier about the timing of the Messiah. Therefore, while the world needed a savior for thousands of years, God had a specific time when the arrival of that savior would have the optimal effect.
Have you been waiting for something to come to completion? If God has determined that the answer to your prayer is “not yet” then rejoice that it will happen in the fullness of time. You most likely have little control over that timing, so take strength from knowing that you worked on the things that you were supposed to work on, all the while allowing God to be the one who determines if and when it will be a success. Yes, it requires patience and humility, but when it happens, you will realize that God’s timing is always perfect.
Peace and blessings – Pastor Aaron