The king said, “Stand aside and wait here.” So he stepped aside and stood there.
2 SAMUEL 18:30
No matter what we do, we cannot run ahead of God’s timing. If we do, we are in danger of being swept aside and overwhelmed by the discovery that we are not up to the task at hand. We always want to reach our destination sooner rather than later, but God will have his way — and the person who is meant to be fulfilling a certain task at a certain time will be there! We have to learn to run our races in the time that God has ordained.
One of the major lessons that I have learned in life is that everything always takes longer than I thought it would. Every big promotion in my life has come “suddenly,” but each “suddenly” was usually preceded by ten years. There have always been more challenges than I anticipated, but in the end, God’s will and promises prevail. My personality type is such that I want everything to happen “yesterday”; nothing ever moves quickly enough for me. But no matter how hard I have pushed, I have discovered that God has set a pace for my race. If we can all just learn to accept that, our lives will be full of much more joy and peace!
There is no doubt that God is more concerned about building endurance in us than he is about getting us to our destination quickly. Therefore, we must stay focused on what it is that we are meant to be doing right now and resist the urge to rush ahead of God.
MOMENT OF REFLECTION
How will you resist the urge to rush ahead of God?
How will you follow instead of lead?