When I was single, people often tried to encourage me by saying, “Just keep waiting on God, He will bring about the right person when you’re ready.” It never really brought me comfort like the other party intended. I recently realized why. It’s only half-true.
Personal readiness is one of the factors in God’s timing, but it’s not the only factor. There certainly are times when we have some growing up to do before what we hope for will actually be good for us. For example, I prayed for a boyfriend when I turned 16. Was I ready for one then? No. I hadn’t the slightest clue what dating relationships were really about and I didn’t have the personal maturity to know what type of person I should date. It just seemed like a cool thing to have in my life.
But using “readiness” as a condition to be met is particularly unhelpful way of thinking about how God answers prayer. I didn’t start dating until I was 25 years old. In the sometimes agonizing nine years between when I first prayed for a boyfriend and when I finally had one, I remember thinking every birthday, “How ready do I need to be? Am I ready this year?”
After Tim and I got married and we started trying for a baby, I came up against the same line of reasoning. “God will give you a baby when you’re ready.” Hm, really? I wondered. What about our friends who had honeymoon babies? They must have been super ready. Or I must be flawed. Something must be missing in my own character if I’m not ready yet.
It was in the midst of waiting for our first child that it dawned on me: IT’S ABOUT MORE THAN ME.
God will give you what you ask for when the time is right. The right time may be sooner than you think. The right time may be never (a difficult thought, but sometimes true). You may be ready for years or you may not be “ready” in the way you think you ought to be. God, in His enormous wisdom and love, takes all things into consideration when He acts. From my perspective, waiting eight long months to become pregnant felt rather unnecessary. But who am I to say that there wasn’t a greater reason for my child to be born eight months “later” than when I had hoped?
It isn’t easy to hold what we long for with open hands. I struggle with it daily. However, knowing that God’s timing is based on more than my personal readiness takes a lot of pressure off and gives me perspective.
It’s about more than me. Kind of changes the way we see our circumstances, doesn’t it?
photo credit: Kat Martin via photopin cc