Not Yet Is Not No

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

God’s timing is not my timing. I am exceptionally careful to whom and when I speak those words because they can feel dismissive in the midst of a hard moment, but I whisper them over myself constantly.

I’m a doer. Once I have a plan or an idea, I want to see it implemented, pronto. That, unfortunately, isn’t always how God works.

Why is there so often a delay between his putting something on our hearts and its implementation? I don’t know. I’ve asked that question more times than I can count, standing alongside family and friends in prayer over delays and “not yets.”

“Our offer fell through, again. This is the fifth house we’ve made an offer on and didn’t get. I know God is calling us to move. I don’t understand.”

“I didn’t get the job. Despite making it to the final rounds of interviews four times, I’m still at a company I know I’m supposed to leave.”

There are no answers this side of heaven to our delays, but today’s verse comforts me in those waiting seasons. It isn’t that God doesn’t hear us or is ignoring us; he does hear! And what feels like an unnecessary delay has a purpose. It might be that God is putting pieces into place that we cannot yet see. It might be that we need to gain a bit more of the experience and maturity necessary for handling the next step.

I know that waiting for God’s timing is always better than rushing ahead of him, trying to do it on my own. God works all things on his schedule and for his glory (see Romans 8:28), and we can entrust him with our “not yet.” And as I wait, I intentionally thank God for his better timing, his plan, and a partnership that will reveal his fingerprints in how everything worked out when I look back on it someday.

Julie

Today’s Act of Gratitude

Memorize Isaiah 55:8-9 for when you find yourself in a “not yet” season, thanking God that he both knows more than you and has a plan.