Getting In Sync With GOD's Timetable
"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" 1 Corinthians 2:9 NIV
One of the most difficult challenges the Lord gives us is having the patience to wait for Him. We live in a world full of instant gratification, and we expect God to be like the world. And then we say, "Lord, give me patience, and give it to me now!"
You have a problem in your life, something with which you're having great difficulty. You pray about it, and God gives you peace in your heart that He has answered your prayer. "Wow!", you say, "with that sudden peace He gave me last night, it must mean everything's going to be straightened out
today!" Then today passes, and nothing happens. You pray about it again, and again you have peace, get excited, another day passes, and still nothing happens. This goes on for months, even years. You have great difficulty
believing or understanding the peace that the Lord keeps giving you every time you pray.
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Why does He give you peace, and yet you see no sign of an answer to your prayer? Because He's letting you know that He's working on the situation. In fact, He started working on the situation long before you ever asked Him to help you. And, because He loves you, He only wants the best for you. In
His infinite wisdom, He knows what it's going to take to straighten out the mess of your life. For some people, that may take only a short time. For others, it may take years.
How long did Abraham have to wait for his promised son, Isaac, after the Lord told him the boy would be born? His name was still Abram, and he was seventy-five years old when God first told Abraham that He would "make you into a great nation." (Genesis 12:1-9 NIV) And He was 100 years old when Isaac was born. (Genesis 21:1-7 NIV)
So, keep Abraham in mind every time you become impatient with God's apparent slowness in answering your prayers. Remember that the Lord is working every day on every aspect of your life - jobs, relationships, children, talents, ministries - preparing the way for you so that you can realize His redemptive purpose in your life. And when He gives you that sense of peace without any evidence of His answers, understand and accept it, knowing that He is preparing the way for you every day.
"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness." 2 Peter 3:8-9a NIV
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