God has made everything fit beautifully in its appropriate time, but he has also placed ignorance in the human heart so that people cannot discover what God has ordained, from the beginning to the end of their lives. (Ecclesiastes 3:11, NET)
I think I’ve confessed this before, but I am “one of those people.” I am not content to read a book straight through. I peek. Well, more than peek. I go to the end of the book and read the last several pages to be sure it comes out okay at the end. I am not content to let the story unfold at its own rate as the author brings the storyline to an end. I want to be sure the main character gets a happy ending and the evil adversary is defeated.
Life isn’t like that. We cannot turn the pages to the last chapter to be sure everything comes together like we think it should. God knows the end of our story, but sometimes we get impatient while waiting to know what will happen. We want to know now how He plans to work everything out.
Will we allow God to handle our story in His own way and in His own time without sharing those details with us beforehand? That’s where trust comes in.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD.” (Jeremiah 17:7 NKJV)
In Genesis 12 God made a promise to Abraham that He would become the father of a great nation. It was a wonderful promise but there were a couple of problems: old age and a barren wife. Many more years passed, and the promise remained unfulfilled. Then in Genesis 16, Sarah tries to skip a few pages in their story because she wasn’t sure what God was doing. Or was He even doing anything? She decided to change the line of their story by making Hagar the surrogate mother of the promised child. We all know how that worked out. Sarah’s impatience created turmoil in the family.
Still more years passed before Isaac, the child God promised, was born.
Sarah finally learned—and it’s a lesson for us too—that God is the author of our story. He may give us promises, but the timing of their fulfillment is in His hands. His ways are beyond our understanding, but He is crafting a beautiful story. As with any story, there will be dark days mixed with the sunshine. We will encounter times of discouragement and questioning mixed with times of joy and victory. In the meantime, we must be patient and trust. If we try to skip ahead to see how our story will end or try to help with the storyline, we may frustrate God’s perfect plan.
The New Living Translation of Proverbs 20:24 asks, “The LORD directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?” What an encouraging thought!
Allow God to unfold your story in His time and in His way. Don’t try to anticipate when, where, why, and how He will accomplish it all. Just know that His ways are perfect. You may now be in a dark part of your story but trust Him for the perfect ending that He has for you.
Lord, forgive me for my impatience and help me to wait patiently for Your perfect plan for my life to unfold. Help me to trust You completely that the promises You’ve given me will come to pass in the time that is best for my story.
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