By: David Wade
"Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him!" Isaiah 30:18
Have you ever noticed that God is not in a hurry? The Bible is full of stories that depict the sometimes painfully long timetable of God. It took 40 years for Moses to receive his commission to lead the people out of Egypt. It took 17 years of preparation before Joseph was delivered from slavery and imprisonment. It took 20 years before Jacob was released from Laban's control. Abraham and Sarah were in their old age when they finally received the son of promise, Isaac. So why isn't God in a hurry?
A Place of Complete Surrender
God called each of these servants to accomplish a certain task in His Kingdom, yet He was in no hurry to bring their mission into fulfillment. First, He accomplished what He wanted in them. See, we as humans are often more focused on outcome than the process that He is accomplishing in our lives each day. When we experience His presence daily, one day we wake up and realize that God has done something special in and through our lives. However, the accomplishment is no longer what excites us. Instead, what excites us is knowing Him. Through those times, we become more acquainted with His love, grace, and power in our lives. When this happens, we are no longer focused on the outcome because the outcome is a result of our walk with Him. It is not the goal of our walk, but the by-product. Hence, when Joseph came to power in Egypt, he probably couldn't have cared less. He had come to a place of complete surrender so that he was not anxious about tomorrow or his circumstances.
Do Not Ignore Warning Signs
So how does this relate to you and your business? Is there something in your business that you want to achieve, but it seems as if God is taking forever to bring it to fruition? Maybe it is a new deal you are trying to close, or maybe it is personnel related. Could it be that there is something God is trying to achieve in you FIRST before He brings about the outcome? Could it be that you and/or your business are not quite ready for what it is you are trying to achieve? Whenever we try to prematurely force a transaction in our businesses, we are opening our doors to potential disaster. Don’t ignore the warning signs posted along the highway! Square pegs really don’t fit in round holes!
There is a lesson in this for us. Remember, Scripture says that “a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day” (2 Peter 3:8), when referring to “time” and God’s view on it. We must wait for God's timing and embrace wherever we are in the process. When we find contentment in that place, we begin to experience God in ways we never thought possible. And then will begin to see the outcomes we desire.