Vantage Point
You Can’t Hurry God
We live in the era of the quick fix. There are quick
weight-loss diets, crash muscle-building courses, get-rich-quick schemes,
instant this and instant that. People are often unwilling to wait for quality,
and settle instead for the inferior — or rashly buy things now that they
really can’t afford.
God has His own timetable for each of us. If we try to hurry
Him up, we don’t just get an inferior or more costly version of His will, we
can miss it all together.
Galatians 6:9 (NIV) says: “Let us not become weary in doing
good, for at the proper time [or ‘due season’] we will reap a harvest if we do
not give up.” Paul wrote this because people have a tendency to quit doing good
things too soon … when they feel unappreciated or they haven’t yet seen much
fruit from their labors.
Circumstances should never govern how one serves God. God
always has a due season, and it is conditional upon obedience. Waiting for the
due season is not procrastination … if we are waiting actively … or
persevering. Don’t give up and don’t quit.
The backbone of any church is not its up-front bright lights
but its steady, dependable people — those Christians who continue to give
their best even when the results are less than hoped for.
When God seems to put us on hold, He wants us to serve Him
in the obvious things that come to hand while we’re waiting. (See Luke 16:10.)
If we can’t be bothered with the “little things,” our due season will probably
be delayed.
All the time we have is given to us by God. We need to use
every bit of it. Allow Him to choose your due season. Don’t run ahead of God
and don’t give up on Him. Some prayers may seem unanswered, but just as surely
as the sun rises, God has a due season for you.
Ken Horn
E-mail your comments to pe@ag.org.
