Are Your Deadlines Flexible to God’s Plan?

My whole life has been filled with deadlines. I have two children. They, of course, were on a nine-month deadline. My little rebels both defied time and were born early.

As children, deadlines were simple: mealtime, naptime, mealtime, night-night. Once we started school, our deadlines became a little more daunting: spelling words, multiplication tables, term papers . . . They were hard at the time, but wouldn’t it be nice to go back to the simplicity of those years?

As adults, no matter the profession, we all have deadlines … even stay-at-home moms and dads. Some are self-imposed; others are directives. Some are fairly easy to attain, but others leave you sapped, downtrodden, and hopeless. I had a boss who put ASAP on every work order. How was I to decide which order was the most important? He wanted everything done right away and cursed me when I couldn’t read his mind. If I was frustrated by his arrogance, how much more is God frustrated by ours?

I see the deadlines of my own making are for my comfort and to meet my expectations. But in fact, I am demanding that my hopes and dreams will be inserted into God’s plan for my life. I want to be married by a certain age; I want a specific job; I want a house on a hill surrounded by a picket fence; I want to make a certain amount of money; I want this particular car . . .

Right now life is fast-paced. Waiting is a thing of the past. Have you ever been in the checkout line when the person in front of you decided to write a check? Your eyes roll; you shuffle your feet; you clear your throat. The amount of time it took to write a check isn’t really long at all. You are simply used to plug-and-pay with your debit card.

We enjoy microwaves, washing machines, dryers, dishwashers . . . what would our great-grandparents have thought about our present world? They were used to waiting. Not us, we want it all and NOW!

If He is such a loving Father, shouldn’t He provide my expectations on my timeline? What kind of Father would He be if He did? There are approximately 7.7 billion people in the world today. If He gave each of us exactly what we each wanted when we wanted it, there would be total chaos. There is enough turmoil in the world already because of forced agendas.

He is a loving Father, but He is also the author of time. In His time, He has plans in place for each of us that are beyond our expectations. In Psalm 90:4, we are reminded, “For you, a thousand years are as a passing day.” So, it’s safe to say, we must be patient for His timing.

I’m not a patient person. I struggle the most when decisions are being made for me, without my input. That could be in a job, in a doctor’s office, or even a courtroom. I feel totally out of control, helpless even hopeless, none of which can be counted as my favorite places to be. All I have to do to right these feelings is to look backward. I see the hopes, dreams, and plans that I have made as well as what God has done. I have been blessed beyond what I think I need or even deserve.  From this vantage point, I understand what James meant in Chapter 1, Verse 2 when he said we were to consider trials as a testing of our faith.

John Piper writes in his book Future Grace: “Waiting on the Lord is the opposite of running ahead of the Lord, and it’s the opposite of bailing out on the Lord. It’s staying at your appointed place while he says stay, or it’s going at his appointed pace while he says go. It’s not impetuous, and it’s not despairing.”

Look at Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and David. Each one had promises from God, but no deadline seemed to be in sight. While they were waiting, they were being prepared both outwardly and inwardly. Finally, after years of expectancy, their promises were fulfilled right on time. God was there the whole time. He wasn’t absent, He was working off of His timing.

Basically, God’s deadlines are matters of faith for us. We can’t see the whole puzzle being worked. But, be assured God knows where every piece fits. We just need to trust him through faith. His timing is always full of beautiful examples of His grace.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD, “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT)