Trusting God's Timing
There are seasons in life when following Christ can feel heavy.
Scripture speaks honestly about patience, longsuffering, endurance and suffering. There are times when believers are called to continue doing what is right even when circumstances are difficult and relief does not come quickly.
But Scripture also gives another reminder that is just as important:
God is still a deliverer.
Life can bring circumstances outside of anyone’s control. Health changes. Jobs become uncertain. Finances become difficult. Relationships change. Prayers seem to go unanswered. Following Christ does not mean those realities suddenly disappear.
And sometimes the hardest part is not even the trial itself.
It is the waiting.
People live within time. A difficult month can feel long. A difficult year can feel even longer. But God is not bound by the same limitations. His timing may not match the timing someone hoped for, yet throughout Scripture, He repeatedly shows that He sees, He hears and He has not forgotten His people.
The children of Israel experienced this in Egypt.
Long before their deliverance, God told Abraham that his descendants would be strangers in another land and would suffer affliction. Generations later, Israel found itself under the harsh rule of Egypt. Their lives were made “bitter with hard bondage” (Exodus 1:14).
For those living through it, the suffering was real. Years passed. Generations passed. No doubt many cried out wondering when God would intervene.
Then, in Exodus 3, God spoke to Moses.
“I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry... for I know their sorrows” (Exodus 3:7).
Those words reveal something worth remembering.
God had seen them.
God had heard them.
God knew their sorrow.
And then He said, “I am come down to deliver them” (Exodus 3:8).
The waiting had not meant that God was absent.
Sometimes quietness can feel like abandonment. A prayer has been prayed repeatedly, but nothing appears to change. The temptation is to wonder whether God sees the situation at all.
But quietness is not the same as absence.
The God who heard Israel in Egypt had already been aware of their suffering before Moses ever stood before the burning bush. And when the appointed time came, He moved.
Daniel gives another picture of the same truth.
Daniel was faithful to God, yet his faithfulness did not keep him from trouble. Jealous men deliberately created a situation designed to force him to choose between obeying God and obeying the king.
Daniel continued praying.
And Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den.
It would be easy to assume that righteousness should have prevented him from ever entering the den. But Scripture shows something different. God allowed Daniel to enter the trial, but He did not allow the trial to destroy him.
There is an important distinction there.
Sometimes God does not prevent His people from entering a difficult situation. Sometimes His deliverance is revealed through what He does once they are already there.
Daniel did not know beforehand that he would survive. He entered the den trusting God with whatever would happen. Yet the Lord shut the lions’ mouths and delivered him. The result reached far beyond Daniel himself. King Darius declared that Daniel’s God “delivereth and rescueth” and works signs and wonders in heaven and earth.The trial became part of Daniel’s testimony.
That is one reason testimonies matter so much.
When someone remembers the times God has already answered, provided, protected or carried them through something they thought they could not endure, that memory becomes strength for the next trial.
It also strengthens someone else.
A testimony says, in effect, “God did this before. He is still the same God.”
Jesus demonstrated this same truth in an even more painful situation with Lazarus.
Mary and Martha knew Jesus loved their brother. They also knew He had the power to heal him. So when Lazarus became sick, they sent word to Jesus.
But Jesus did not immediately come.
He remained where He was for two more days.
From Mary and Martha’s perspective, that delay must have been difficult to understand. Lazarus grew worse and eventually died. By the time Jesus arrived, he had been in the grave four days.
Martha told Jesus plainly, “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died” (John 11:21).
Her words carried grief, disappointment and faith all at once.
Jesus had not arrived when she thought He should.
But Jesus had never lost control of the situation.
Before He ever reached Bethany, He had already said that what was happening would ultimately be “for the glory of God” (John 11:4). Mary and Martha could not see that plan while they were watching their brother die. They only knew that they had asked Jesus to come and He had not come when they expected.
That experience is not entirely unfamiliar.
There are moments when someone can pray, “Lord, I know You are able. Why have You not done something yet?”
Scripture does not condemn that pain. Jesus Himself wept alongside Mary and those grieving Lazarus.
But the story did not end at the tomb.
Jesus told Martha, “If thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God” (John 11:40).
Then He called:
“Lazarus, come forth.”
And the man who had been dead four days walked out of the grave.Israel probably did not imagine that God’s plan would include centuries of bondage.
Daniel probably did not imagine that faithfulness would lead him into a lions’ den.
Mary and Martha certainly did not imagine that the One who loved Lazarus would allow him to die before coming to Bethany.
Yet in every case, the trial was not the end of the story.
God delivered.
And that is the encouragement Scripture continues to give.
Being in God’s will does not always look the way someone expects. It may include waiting. It may include uncertainty. It may even include walking through something that seems completely contrary to what was prayed for.
But difficulty is not proof that God has left.
Delay is not proof that He has forgotten.
Quietness is not proof of His absence.
Sometimes the greatest challenge is simply trusting Him long enough to see what He already knows He is going to do.
Looking back at past deliverances helps build that trust. The answered prayer, the door that opened unexpectedly, the provision that came at the right moment, the strength to survive something that once seemed unbearable. Those experiences become reminders: He has been faithful before.
And when the next difficult season comes, the believer can remember the testimony and say, “I already know He is a deliverer.”
There may still be waiting.
There may still be tears.
There may still be moments when the question is, “Lord, when are You coming?”
But Scripture offers an answer worth holding onto:
He never left.
The same God who heard Israel’s cry, shut the mouths of Daniel’s lions and called Lazarus out of the grave is still the God who hears the prayers of His people.
And sometimes faith is simply holding on long enough to discover that what felt like silence was never absence at all.
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