Trusting His Timing

Jul 21, 2022

In Psalm 70, David pleads with the Lord, expressing his needs and asking God to come quickly:

1 Hasten, O God, to save me;

come quickly, Lord, to help me.

5 …But as for me, I am poor and needy;

come quickly to me, O God.

You are my help and my deliverer;

Lord, do not delay.

- Psalm 70:1,5

Isn’t it funny that when we ask God to speed up, our finite minds are harassing the Creator of time itself? Theologian G. Campbell Morgan believed that such prayers misunderstood God.

It reveals a mistaken conception of God. God never needs to be called upon to hasten. He is never tarrying uselessly or carelessly.

- G. Campbell Morgan

However, Morgan makes an important point: God would rather us pray with honesty about our desire for Him to come quickly:

Let us take it and use it, knowing that He would far rather have in our song an expression of an honest questioning than any affectation of a confidence not possessed. Moreover, He would rather have from us such a song than silence.

- G. Campbell Morgan

Whether or not our desires are true to how God operates, he still wants to hear our hearts. He wants to know us - that’s the grace of our Father. But, sometimes, I wonder if years later David looked back at that psalm and chuckled to himself - realizing how much better God’s timing was. Have you ever had that moment?

I think one of the lessons I’ve learned over and over throughout my adult life is that God’s timing is always better than mine.

So often, I’m like David, begging God to speed things up or slow things down or just DO something. And in a few days or months or years, I always look back at the desperate pleas in my prayer journals and chuckle to myself. The resolution that came was always different than I expected, and always better.

I look at my prayer journal now, and there are still pleas that haven’t been answered. There are still requests that, in my finite understanding and opinion, SHOULD be answered NOW. And yet I look back on my past answered prayers and the stories of others, and I can trust that God’s timing is better. God’s plan is better. And even if I don’t see it in my lifetime, He is working all things out for the good of those that love Him.

Friend, I know there are deep yearnings in your heart for God to do something. You are like David in Psalm 70 - God just show up already! Heal this broken marriage. Bring my child back home to me. Fix this financial disaster. Redeem our godless world. Cure the cancer that is ailing my body. Fill in the blank with whatever you’re asking God for.

I know it is so hard. I know those prayers hurt. I know there are nights you lay awake, lump in your throat, knot in your stomach, begging God through gritted teeth to make things better. Friend, He is. He is making it all better. Even if we don’t see it. Even if, in our mind, it should look better NOW. He hasn’t forgotten you. He didn’t forget David. He is at work. And His timing is ALWAYS the right timing.

It might not make sense today - that’s okay. God still wants to hear your prayers. He wants to sit with you in the dark hours of the night. But the dawn is coming. The sun will rise again. And maybe it won’t be in your lifetime, and maybe it won’t be in mine. But He’s coming quickly. He’s making it all new. He’s working it out for me, and for you.