It Starts Small

At the right time, God’s timing, He can do anything instantly.

²² The least will become a thousand,
the smallest a mighty nation.
I am the Lord;
I will accomplish it quickly in its time.
Isaiah 60:22

This passage of scripture was God speaking to the Israelites through Isaiah. He was giving them a picture of restoration. Their restoration after exile, and ultimately their restoration to Him in eternity.

What struck me most is that later part of Isaiah 60:22: I am the Lord;
I will accomplish it quickly in its time.

Time.

Time is a concept created by God but he operates outside the restriction of time. In heaven, there is no time. Almost all of us end up in God’s waiting room. Have you ever had to sit in a waiting room. You are in a hurry for something to happen, but God does not seem to be in a hurry. Maybe you are in a hurry to get married or graduate from school to get to that job you have been studying about the past few years. Maybe you are in an actual doctor’s office waiting for test results. Maybe you are behind your desk waiting on a big deal to go through. Maybe you are at the bedside of a loved one waiting on a miracle of healing. Maybe you are in the middle of a torn relationship waiting for God to work amends and reconciliation. Whatever the reason, we seem to reason that time is running out.

Are you watching time get shorter and shorter and saying God there is not much time left. This either has to happen now or it is not going to happen at all.

Time.

God is not subject to time.

⁴ For in your sight a thousand years
are like yesterday that passes by,
like a few hours of the night.
Psalm 90:4

God uses time to test our faith and to build our character. We can have goals. We can be working to get from point a to point b, but the time and distance between the two God is working on us. He does not care about our goal, so much as he cares about our character. God is more interested in you than he is the goal and what you are trying to accomplish. We do not take our accomplishment to heaven, we take our character.

Many times, when we find ourselves in God’s waiting room, it is us waiting on Him to do something. But what if God says I am waiting on you? What if God says I am waiting on you, preparing you, testing your faith, and trying to mature you because what I want to give you is more than what you can handle right now, Will you trust me?

What if the delay to answered prayer is actually part of God’s design in answering prayer? Delays can be apart of God testing our trust and building our character.

⁸ This is what the Lord says:

I will answer you in a time of favor,
and I will help you in the day of salvation.
I will keep you, and I will appoint you
to be a covenant for the people,
to restore the land,
to make them possess the desolate inheritances,
Isaiah 49:8

God says I WILL. He does not use the words I might, or maybe. He says I WILL. He hears our prayers and He answers, but sometimes the distance between the answer and the work, is an opportunity for God to test our faith and build character.

Maybe he is showing you doubt and your trust issues with him. Maybe God is working a stronger endurance in you. Maybe God is working a part of your character to replace the old nature and create a new character trait in you.

There are two things we do not like to talk about: waiting and time. God in His awesome glory puts them both together and builds us.

If you are in the waiting room, waiting for the answer to happen, what is God showing you in that distance between the two?