Do you ever question God’s timing?
Specifically: do you sometimes wonder what God is waiting on? Have you asked Him how much longer until He comes through on that thing or in that situation you’ve been waiting for, when the wait feels like it has been forever? Do you worry whether He will ever show up at all? Do you think that maybe He has forgotten you?
It’s ok. You’re safe here. The space you and I share in this column is a “no-judgement” zone. And I confess: I have those thoughts and questions too. In fact, I increasingly feel this way these days whenever I think about how I thought my life would have looked at this age and stage. And while I’m glad about many areas of my life, in others I am not happy or fulfilled.
In some aspects, the reality of my life doesn’t match up to my earlier expectations. It’s in those areas I wonder: is God going to do anything about it or not? If not, why doesn’t He just say so, so I can cease being hopeful and stop waiting? Why the silence? Is His timing skewed?
I want to share two recent stories that encouraged me, and I hope will encourage you, that his timing is impeccable.
A blown tyre
On September 18, 2019, my mother was heading back home from a medical appointment. She was travelling in a vehicle driven by an acquaintance, a man who occasionally works as a taxi driver and whom she usually uses for errands. After reaching about midway on the journey, at a place in Jamaica known as “Cross Roads”, the driver had just turned a corner when they heard a loud “pop”. He pulled over, only to see that one tyre was completely flat.
He had no spare. And he was cash-strapped. They looked across the road and realized the tyre had blown directly in front of a mechanic business. One of the mechanics, an older gentleman, examined the tyre. He told the taxi driver he’d need a new tyre. And unfortunately, they didn’t sell tyres. But he told the driver he could leave the car there, because a short distance away was a place that sold secondhand tyres.
My mother gave the driver the money she was going to pay him for taking her home, so he could use it to purchase the tyre. The old mechanic ensured my mother, who remained seated in the car, wasn’t too hot or directly exposed to the heat of sun in the outdoor garbage. He located and then pulled a huge sheet of cardboard over the top of the metal railing that was above the spot in the garage where the car had been parked. When the taxi driver returned some minutes later, the old mechanic helped him put on the tyre he had bought, without any charge.
When I reflected on this story, I thought about God’s timing. The tyre could have blown when they were going full speed on the busy highway, with disastrous consequences. It could have endangered their lives and those of others if the driver had lost control of the vehicle. The blown tyre could have happened in a lonely area where they could have been prone to interference by thieves.
Instead, the tyre blew across the street from a mechanic shop where they could get help. And what if my mother wasn’t in the car that day? How would the driver have been able to pay for the new tyre? And what if that kind older gentleman hadn’t been at work that day to show them kindness?
While I often pray for my mother’s health and safety, I will never be able to foresee the potential dangers that can happen in any given day. This story was another reminder of the fact that the daily events in my life and in the lives of those I love are completely outside of my control. Yet God knew exactly what was going to happen that day.
Gym Towel
I de-stress from the strenuous nature of my job by working out at the gym four evenings a week: Mondays to Thursdays. Every Thursday night when I get back to my apartment, I remove all of my gym gear from my car. Except for this one Thursday. I did some shopping after the gym on that Thursday and I just couldn’t manage to take everything out of my car in one trip.
I didn’t check the back seat. When I got into the car on Friday morning to go to work, I saw a grey blur in the corner of my eye. The grey blur on the back seat was the towel I had forgotten to take it out.
Later that morning, about midday, I had to leave work to run an errand. On my way to my car, there was a sudden outburst of heavy rain. I sprinted to my car. The rain soaked my clothes and dumped water on my head. When I got inside my car I realized the only thing I had to dry myself off was… you guessed it! That same grey gym towel. I was so grateful for that towel. A towel that would not have been there had I stuck to my Thursday night car-clearing routine. I interpreted this towel experience as God’s way of saying to me: “I see things you can’t and even a mistake, or something you thought you forgot, can be used for your benefit. I did that to teach you this.”
Now, neither of these stories is earth-shattering or miraculous. There were no obvious signs of the supernatural, but God was in each story. His style is to use the little things to make big points. He’s talking to us all the time, which we’d hear if we only paused to listen and really observe more often.
Now, I still haven’t seen the things that I am waiting on God for materialize. My life did not change after these two events. But I have a better sense that God’s timing is perfect. And He cares just as much about the little things in your life as He does the big things.
He is the God who sees you. This is literally the meaning of the Hebrew phrase “El Roi” which Sarah’s servant, Hagar, uses to describe God in the book of Genesis chapter 16, verse 13. She calls him this after she had run away into the desert, fleeing mistreatment from Sarah. She was pregnant with Ishmael, the son she was going to have for Sarah’s husband, Abraham. Hagar felt alone and hopeless and it was at that moment God showed up to speak with her, to assure her she was seen.
You can trust Him at every crossroad of your life. Let him orchestrate your journey.
Sharma Taylor is a corporate attorney with a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Law from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. This year, she is committed to believing for bigger things. She was the 2017 Basil Sellers International Young Writers winner in the young writer program as well as the 2019 Tronson Award (International) for consistency and highly recognised broad contribution to the young writer program. The young writer program is coordinated by Press Service International (PSI) in conjunction with Christian Today with over 80 young writers from Australia, New Zealand and around the world.
Sharma Taylor previous articles may be viewed at: www.pressserviceinternational.org/sharma-taylor.html