If there is anything worth doing with our time it’s seeking God because He holds all the answers and would never withhold a good thing from us unless it would do more harm than good in the season we’ve asked for it. The problem is that we exist in an insta-world which warps reality for entertainment, and we get sucked into the belief that God works just as instantaneously which is not the case.
God is a God of wisdom and order so best believe He isn’t about to give us everything we ask for especially if we are asking amiss. Most of the times we are driven by what we think we need when it’s really FOMO in disguise and it could easily be dealt with by being more obedient to His word and submissive to His will. There is a painstaking deliberance in the way our lives unfold including the seasons we go through and His plan is so gracious that it accommodates our inevitable dropping of the ball.
Nothing worth having is obtained without the test of time
“The reason they say you’re never too young to start following your dream is that they know from experience how long it takes to eventually get it right. – I wish I had started sooner.” This was my Whatsapp status a few weeks ago as the revelation came to me that it takes time and a good measure of it to succeed.
It’s not just about the quantity of time it’s about the quality of effort made in the time and sometimes it takes a large quantity of time to make quality input. I had been feeling like there was some kind of conspiracy of delay on my life but time belongs to God and He is never late.
In the 11 years I’ve designed jewellery I only got the confidence to open a shop in August last year so I am a beginner dealing with the growing pains of the level I’m on and I can’t realistically expect to be an overnight success. What I can realistically expect is that I will be tested and my response will determine the outcome. I’ve prayed and prayed about my business but it never occurred to me that preparation was part of God’s answer to my prayer.
Time is the ultimate tool of preparation
Delay isn’t denial it’s an opportunity to instil in us the qualities which allow us to discern and appreciate the answer when it comes. I never understood what it really meant to say “the blessing of the Lord makes a person rich and he adds no sorrow with it” [Proverbs 10:22 NLT] because I hadn’t yet reached the level of maturity to understand that it is done by preparing the hands to receive it.
We admire people who overcome the test of time but we forget it isn’t because overcoming is reserved for the members of the Overcomers Club. They overcome because they make the choice to believe and that belief drives them to seek out the means to make it a reality no matter how long it takes. Think of all the people healed in the bible it wasn’t about their deeds it was because their faith made them bold enough to do things that others didn’t and they got results.
As Christians our faith ought to drive us because God is our ‘can’ but without faith it is impossible to please God [Hebrews 11:6] and sometimes it seems like our prayers go unanswered but are we praying in faith?
Imagine if like these people we boldly cultivated our faith in His love for us. If we were mindful of His willingness to have relationship with us and His plan to prosper us wouldn’t things change for the better in our lives? We couldn’t possibly contain the rewards He would pour on us for diligently seeking him.
My prayer today is of thanks that God is who He is and not who I mistakenly thought He was. Amen
