Delays

Speaking of trusting in God's timing, Elisabeth Elliot says in her book, Secure in the Everlasting Arms,

...what I would have called my own stalling and obtuseness may have been the Lord's own timing. He makes us wait. He keeps us on purpose in the dark. He makes us walk when we want to run, sit still when we want to walk, for He has things to do in our souls that we are not interested in.

...Some of the "delays" are His own choice for us, so we must not always chide ourselves when the pace is not what we thought it should be. We must learn to move according to the timetable of the Timeless One, and be at peace.

"My times are in Thy hand" (Psalm 31:15, KJV). That is where I want to be, Father. May I rest in the sure knowledge that my hours and days are safely kept.

I've read this many times and it always encourages my heart. I've often struggled with waiting over the past few years, wondering, when things weren't moving ahead as I thought they should be, if I was somehow not hearing God's voice - if I was missing out on His direction. I'm learning to trust Him though, knowing that my times are in His hands, and even the delays (or what I see as delays) are a part of His plan. Sometimes I'll read through old journals and it's so neat to catch a glimpse of what some of God's purposes through these waiting times may have been - the work that He's done in my heart through them. The work that He is still doing.

So for those of you who are being led to wait when all you want to do is move forward, stand firm in the hope that only comes through trusting in Christ, the One who has your "times in His hand".