At the right time in the right way

“OH no! No! No! I am going to miss the bus again!” This was an everyday thought as I run after my bus that gets me to and from work in Downtown LA. I don’t miss the bus this time and so I plop into my usual seat and sigh. It was going to be a good day after all.

It happens to the best of us. We assume that God has called us to do something for Him and we step out in faith, expecting that once we do, our dreams will happen in a snap. But more often that that, saying yes to God means taking one step forward, two steps back.

It happened to Joseph who had telling dreams of becoming a leader and yet spent a good chunk of his teens and 20s as a slave and in jail. David was set out to be king and yet the next day, he returned to being a shepherd boy. Jesus was the Messiah and yet for a good measure of time, he was hidden and in his last moments on earth, he hung on the cross.

It is safe to say that the God of the Universe operates rather differently. For those in a relationship with God through Jesus, you may have heard a promise from God. It may have not been a loud cry but a gentle whisper enough to renew a hope in you. You heeded to his call and yet experienced quite the opposite in life. Where is God in all of this?

Of course, sometimes it is our own decisions and mistakes that delay the process but even in our mistakes, God intervenes. And yet sometimes, the intervention takes forever.

Many times in the Psalms, we can see David languishing over the wait, the pain, and the feeling of being abandoned. Though it may seem like that, we never are. Because as part of what is said in Hebrews 13:5, “Being content with what you have; for He has said, ‘I will never [under any circumstances] desert you [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you [assuredly not]!’”

God is with us even during the moments of despair and what seems like a season of silence. Even Jesus felt it on the cross and yet God’s faithfulness is evident, even during our dry seasons.

God is the builder, the Master Weaver, and the ultimate redeemer. As inspired by Max Lucado’s “You’ll Get Through This,” here are some thoughts to remem- ber during a dry season.

You will get through this. Deliverance is God’s specialty. When we are in the deepest seas of our own circumstances, we often think, this is it, this won’t end. And yet time and time again, God has proven to deliver us from all evil that consumes. He has brought those before us through the wilderness, through the valley of the shadow of death, and through the deep sea.

It won’t be painless. In John 16:33, Jesus has said that there will indeed be disappointment and pain but He said to rejoice for He has overcome the world. There is no promise that all pain and sadness will be eradicated once we say yes to Him but He does promise to reward our pain for a higher purpose.

It won’t be quick. If you have been a Christian for a while, you may now know that God likes to take his sweet time. We have seen it in the lives of every hero in the Bible. He holds time in His hands and He knows when to proceed. We always have our own timing but in His hands we trust that every day is as it should be in his book.

But God will use your mess for good. While the waiting and the pain is more than enough for us to question where we are and even what we believe, we must see this waiting period, this chaos as a sign that our life is going as God promises. Each struggle is a chance for God to mold us into who He has created us to be. God sees each puzzle of every season of our lives and sees how Devil meant it to destroy but by God’s grace, we shall overcome.

The are many stories in the Bible, just like Joseph’s, teaches us to trust God to weave through what the enemy has planted and overcome. He redeems all the broken parts of our lives for good.

As Lucado emphasizes, “Joseph can tell you that life in the pit stinks. Yet for all of its rottenness doesn’t the pit do this much? It forces you to look upwards. Someone from up there must come down here to give you a hand.”

God did it for Joseph, He will do it for you – at the right time in the right way.