“Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait I say, on the Lord!”   ~Psalm 27:15

Should we try to push past the obstacles that God places in our paths or just wait for Him to give us a new plan? Should I try to pry open the doors that God has closed or do nothing, sit around, and wait? At what point, if any, do we need to take responsibility for our own destiny?

I‘ve heard it said, prayer is all good and well, but you need to make your own fate, you can’t just sit around and wait for God to tell you what to do. After all, God helps those who help themselves, right?

To this, I say, I’ve spent the majority of my life trying to force fate and make my own destiny—to no avail. I’m sad to report the reality that I’ve been caught in this life loop for far too long—trying to force my agenda. It’s been nothing more than a dance of two steps forward—two steps back! I go nowhere! I’m finally to the point where I am not only willing but actually eager to just wait on the Lord and go only where He leads me. Bottom line—trying to force God’s hand is pushing my own self serving agenda, and nothing good ever comes of that!

“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”   ~Isaiah 40:31

Bottom line, God does not help those who help themselves; He stands down and sadly watches us fail. He has told us that we can do nothing good without Him, but with Him, all things are possible! He helps those who understand and accept that they cannot do it alone.  

“But Jesus looked at them and said to them, with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”   ~Matthew 19:26

Yes, we need to row, we need to move in the direction we believe God is leading us. It's a fact that you can't steer a car if it isn't moving, nor can God alter our course if we aren't in motion. It's also a fact that if we do nothing, nothing will happen; if we aren't willing to put the shovel to the ground, the hole won't get dug. So get up and do what you believe God is prompting you to do, and then allow Him to guide you into His precise plan.  

​Will you accept God’s timing…?

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.”   ~Ecclesiastes 3:11

Whenever there’s a big delay in my plans, I get impatient. But if I could stop the sense of urgency that waiting inevitably creates, I’d realize that God’s timing is always perfect. Jumping ahead of God always has harsh, long-term consequences. When we place our trust in an all-knowing, sovereign God and wait upon His timing, He will always prove faithful.

The biggest problem I have in simply surrendering to God’s timing is I can’t see any other way around the problem at hand. I can’t see how a delay in getting to the solution finish line could ever help any situation. I can’t understand, with my limited insight, how delaying will do anything but lead to a catastrophe. Plus, to be completely honest, I want what I want, when I want it! Nevertheless, no matter what the reason, God doesn’t need my help in finishing what He has started—in seeing His plans to completion—but sometimes I just can’t seem to stop myself from trying to help Him by jumping in front of Him.

“Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.”   ~Isaiah 46:10

​I can’t help but interject the story of the woman and the biscuits here. There was a woman of faith in the Bible who had a little boy, and they were both on the verge of starvation when the prophet, Elijah, came to call. He told her to use her last cup of flour and her last few drops of oil to make him a biscuit. She knew he was a prophet of God, so she obeyed, and in doing so got the shock of her life when the barrel of flour miraculously refilled and the oil was so plentiful she didn’t have enough containers to hold it all.

So, why did I share this story? Because it’s such a great example of my own inability to do what God leads me to do no matter how crazy impossible things might seem—no matter how bad the outcome is looking. God will fix our situation, no matter how absurd it might seem, if we bring it to Him in faith, trusting that He always has our best interest at heart. Obedience, patience, and trust are the most important traits a Christian can have if we're ever going to see God’s miraculous results.

​“Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.”   ~Psalm 37:3-7

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