By Dina Aldabbagh

If you believe in God, you probably believe in God’s timing — that he does everything in his perfect time. But then we get into these periods of life, or moods, where we ask, “God, where are you?” It feels like the proper time has passed; he feels late. But God is not like us, he does not procrastinate. He does, however, need to wait on us to step up and do the part we can in our journey; we have free will. 

You want to wait on God to move in your life because you want to live by his guidance. The issue is then becoming paralyzed. It’s interesting how much procrastination is linked to feeling a pressure to be better. You don’t want to make a decision because you don’t want to make the wrong decision. You don’t want to start because you want it to be perfect and if it can’t be perfect, it better just not be. So you wait — you don’t decide, you hesitate, you procrastinate, you delay. I understand being under the impression that God missed out on the “perfect” time to do something in your life, and if you read the Bible, you may have read Psalm 104:27, “All creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time” (NIV). I think another way we can interpret the word “food” here is “sustenance,” as we need the nutrients in food to sustain our bodies. We all look to God to give us our sustenance for life — this can be love, support, financial abundance, safety, a home; all things we rely on to have a happy and healthy life — so when we go without, it feels like a direct betrayal from God. We think, “God, the proper time has passed. There was a best option for when you could do it, and now it feels too late.” It feels to us like God missed the proper time. But then we must challenge ourselves, if what we know of God is true, and he rules everything and doesn’t make mistakes with how he manages our destinies, how could he have missed the proper time? What else is going on here that we need to become aware of? 

Another consideration is perhaps you feel like throwing in the towel. The wait has been too long and now you really don’t see another option but giving up. I hear you, it’s a brutal feeling when you feel disempowered to bring something into your life that you want so bad. Perhaps you feel like, ‘That’s it, I’ve done everything I could do in my power, and nothing is changing. I just need to accept my lot in life.’ Well, maybe that is what you need to do. Hear me out, maybe you need to accept that your lot of land in this life is your lot of land, and all this time you’re spending trying to trade for another spot in life is fruitless because you only have ownership over the lot that you possess, and you’re ignoring it. While you hope and wait for a different lot, your own land is barren. It’s not barren because it can’t be fruitful, it’s barren because you’re not working it, or you’re only half-working it because you ultimately believe that one day you’ll be able to pick up and leave, happily entering a greener pasture. The problem is, what if you never get another lot of land? What if this lot is all that you’re given in your life? Will you neglect it because you think it’s not good enough or will you make the best of the lot you have? Maybe what you need to give up on is the idea that you will just be able to pick up and move to a prettier pasture that will suddenly fulfill every need you have in life. While I know that God wants us to dream of greater things for ourselves, I think there’s a balance of accepting what you’ve been given and working for more. Keyword: working. 

It’s written in Proverbs 28:19, “Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies will have their fill of poverty” (NIV). Maybe, maybe, what God really wants for us is not that we surrender in the way that we stop moving and let him drag us, maybe what he wants is that we surrender to what our futures may look like, and that it may not be what we have in mind. Therefore, he does not want us to stop making the best of what we have now. Matter of fact, he needs us to work our land. There’s an idea that no matter what we do, God’s will will prevail; I think that gets misinterpreted and misapplied to what concept we’re talking about there, because in this case, it negates a very important lesson that God is constantly teaching us in the Bible: Do Good. Keyword there: Do. God wants us to accept the lot we’ve been given in life and work it to the absolute best of our ability, because then he is able to turn that into the abundance we truly desire. God may be able to pull you out of a hard time all on his own, but he cannot force you to put in all the work that is necessary to not only get, but know how to hold, the greatness he has in store for you. 

The idea that we can believe in something hard enough and not take the proper steps to work towards it is a fantasy. Operating under this belief, we’ll have our share of poverty. But if you work the lot of land in life you’ve been handed, you will receive abundance. So let it be established that we must work hard for the goodness God has in store for us. Matter of fact, let’s pretend for a moment that God will abandon you and won’t fulfill his promises over your life. Even still, operating under this belief that working hard will get you good things, will get you good things. You’ll be in 10x a better position than if you sat around “waiting” for the miracle to come upon you. The miracle is that you are fully able and sound minded to be able to amass it yourself. That’s the perspective change. Perhaps the miracle is not that God will give you everything you want on one random Tuesday, it is actually that God has given you the health, mind, and ability necessary to commit to what you want so that you can get it. He wakes you up every morning so that you can try again; that’s the miracle. 

I’m very interested in this idea that God’s actually waiting on us. He can’t give you the job you want if you’ll get fired the first day because of your anger issues in group settings. He can’t give you the wife you want if you’ll destroy her sense of trust and safety in the relationship because you’ll be unfaithful. He can’t give you the husband you want if you’ll lose his admiration for you because you disrespect him. He can’t give you the beautiful house you want if you’re not willing to cut the grass every couple weeks, clean the dishes daily, keep things organized, fix the sink immediately after it breaks, because if you can’t take care of the beauty he has for you, you’ll take a home that everyone dreams of, and destroy it. Now, you may get a job, a wife, a husband, but you only get what you are able to maintain. You don’t just get what you want, you get what you can take care of. God can give it to you, but if he gives it to you just for you to instantaneously lose it because you’re not ready, that’s cruel. There’s a limited amount of opportunities you get to have something in life, you must take hold of every single one. So, we’re not waiting, we’re preparing. The more you delay putting in the work into yourself — into your mind, into your heart, into your habits, into your body, into your lifestyle, into your relationships — the more of a delay you put in what you want out of life. You delay God, he does not delay you. 

I was laying in bed, it was dark, it was cold, I had a full day of getting tasks done in order to be able to see friends later, and I just heard a voice inside myself say, “I don’t want God to delay, why do I delay?” David asks God many times not to delay, as we probably do – “God please, don’t make me wait any longer, I’m ready.” But our actions speak louder than our words, and if God is relying on me to do my part so that he can do his part, why do I delay? If my delay is what is causing his delay, why do I delay? How does that benefit me? You have more of a say over your life than you realize. It’s not all just “God’s plan,” because while he controls the universe, his plans cannot take place if you do not do your part in order to see the goodness of God. God gives us everything in its proper time, and the time isn’t proper if we’re not ready to care for what we want — meaning that the delay we see is sourced from ourselves. Do not delay. 

I’ll leave you with this: “I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands” (Psalm 119:41 NIV). God’s commands are for us to work our land — the lot we’ve been given in life — to the best of our abilities. 

Do not delay.