TODAY’S SIGNATURE VERSE ••• For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9).
PRAISE & PRAYER PROMPT ••• I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Our little family had a good one… And, now it feels like Saturday. Actually, this week has always felt like a surreal time of limbo. Is it time for a party? Is it time for a nap? Or, is it time to get back to work? If you’re me, those answers are no, maybe, and yes.
So, what do you want to talk about today? Again, we’re in this limbo time. The calendar feels off-kilter and time has come to a halt. Even for me—I’m self-employed so I don’t have time off. But the time feels muddy and unproductive. Because no matter how hard I work on a project today, turning it in is going to be met with the sound of crickets because almost everyone I work with is either taking time off work or if they are working, it’s kind of a loose arrangement.
When I think of time and God, we know His timing isn’t like ours. Though He invented time, and established the 24 hours we have each day, He isn’t operating on our calendar. And to be honest, that frustrates the snot out of me sometimes. Don’t worry—God and I’ve had this conversation plenty of times. My frustration isn’t any secret to Him.
I’ve worked hard to understand God’s timing. In fact, it was my 2018 word of the year. I spent that year trying to understand it. And the truth is—I can’t understand it. But I can accept it.
In Isaiah 55:8-9, it says, “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’” (ESV).
Before you say it—I know this passage says nothing about time. I get it. But for me, it’s a critical point of Scripture to understand that God’s thinking, nor His timing, runs 100% parallel to my agenda.
Because part of accepting God’s timing is accepting that He doesn’t think about things the way we do. I use this illustration often and if you’ve heard it before, I’m sorry… but here we are with our noses pressed up to the painting and we are trying to make decisions about the information we have under our nose. But God’s view is far more panoramic than ours. He can see the whole masterpiece of His plan while we’re looking at just a few strokes of the paint!
Believe me—God and I’ve had plenty of talks about His timing. I’ve begged, pleaded, and even stamped my foot and huffed in impatience because honestly, I don’t know what He’s waiting for! But if I trust God, I have to trust that He sees a bigger picture than I do. I have to trust that what He’s doing is worth the wait and that when He answers, He’s going to answer big and the timing will he perfect.
As our time in 2019 winds down, it’s a good time to reflect on where we’ve been and where we’re going in 2020. It’s a good time to reflect on the ways God has worked in our lives in the last year and be prepared for what’s coming. We may not have all the answers, but He does and He will reveal them to us in His perfect timing.
Today, as you pray, thank God for His higher way of thinking and therefore, His perfect timetable. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you be content in the waiting, as well as patient and trusting.
