Our Wonder Room

Until God Is Ready

“When we read of the great Biblical leaders, we see that it was not uncommon for God to ask them to wait, not just a day or two, but for years, until God was ready for them to act.”
Gloria Gaither

Holding Me Back
Photo by Josef Ottosson

I am not putting myself into the category of being a “great Biblical leader” but reading these words this morning gave me cause to ponder. The “until God was ready” part caught my attention.

Without a doubt I have no idea or concept of God’s timing, other than knowing it is always right even though it may not look that way to me. The idea that God might not be ready sounds a bit alarming to me. My earthly concept of not being ready equates to not being prepared or of being caught of guard. These are two attributes I am not associating with my God…one who is omnipotent and omniscient.

God is always ready.

Which means either I’m not ready (which comes as no great surprise) or the situation into which God wants to send me is not ready. In my mind I want to be ready. The picture I have in my head, or at least the one I’d like to have, is I’m ready to go and tackle the world and God is holding me back by my shirt tail, waiting for just the right moment to unleash me on the world.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.”
Proverbs 3:5-8

So, the question to be asked is “am I ready?” Am I doing the things I need to be doing so that God can use me when the situation arises? Am I in His Word? Am I in conversation with God by prayer? Have I surrounded myself with His earthly saints? Am I really ready to say “Here I am, Lord, send me” and trust in His him?

My life and yours are accumulations of experiences, knowledge, sensations, wants, desires, emotions and stored up energy. Everything is of value to God. God has used us, is using us, and God will use us is in the lives of others. Let us be ready. Let us “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power”, Ephesians 6:10. And you know the exciting part? We don’t always know when we’re ready! Only God knows, and that’s a good thing.