When I was a Kindergarten teacher, I used the concept of "wait time" after I asked my “kinders” questions. It involves posing a question and providing students with a 5 second pause before choosing a student to answer it. Wait time is a simple, yet strategic teaching tool. Wait time enables students to gather their thoughts and think through the question posed in order to compose an insightful answer. Wait time ensures students aren’t pressured to provide an answer devoid of thought. Essentially, wait time is a teaching tool that should be in every teacher’s toolbox. Good teachers ask good questions... great teachers ask questions that stimulate higher-level thinking... exemplary teachers inspire higher level thinking while affording students time to compile their thoughts. God is the quintessential teacher of all teachers.
God teaches through His Word, The Bible. He also gave us a role model by sending His Son, Jesus. And… because God knows how weak us humans are… He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell within His believers. The living God guides our every move when we place our faith in Him and surrender to His time. I told you… God is the quintessential teacher! God inspires His believers to always set their sights on the eternal while patiently learning through the journey of life. He refines our faith through trials while teaching us to wait and put our complete trust in His wisdom, power and love. God challenges us to place our full faith in His clock.
You see... God OWNS the clock. No matter how much or fast we want something, He is THE clock master. Whether it's a job change, new car, or bigger home... it's all about His plan… His timing. No matter how hard we try to manipulate the circumstances, we will NEVER experience God's best without surrendering to His clock. His timing is rooted in His eternal perspective, unmatched wisdom, amazing grace and unconditional love. Our timing simply can’t compete with God’s timing. His timing is way beyond our limited perspective and understanding. SELAH!
It's in God’s wait time where we learn life changing lessons. It's in the waiting times where we learn patience. When we wait, we transition our focus from what we DON’T have to what we DO have. We focus on our blessings. We get grounded in gratitude when we wait on His clock. When God makes us wait, we go into pause mode and review our goals through God’s eyes. It is in the waiting moments when we find the time to prioritize our focus and get centered on life’s essentials. Waiting ensures we factor in ALL variables in order to avoid bad decisions. God’s postponements are divine opportunities to learn and grow. There are times when God detours our plans because His clock’s timing is pointing the way to our divine destination… dare I say… destiny! It’s during God’s postponements and life’s detours, when we find our HOPE.
While the enemy (Satan) wants us to make rushed decisions that focus on earthly wants, our Heavenly Father leads us to make decisions that are grounded in Biblical principles, inspired by His character and focused on eternal goals. The difference in earthly wants and eternal goals is… HOPE! The former is short-term, self-centered and usually covetous by nature. The later focuses on themes that are altruistic and divinely-inspired, with infinite results. The latter is grounded in… HOPE.
There is something magical in God’s wait times. There is joy, anticipation and excitement when we use God’s clock in place of our own. Waiting on God’s clock brings the same feeling of excitement that comes with Christmas and Easter. Guided by our Father’s clock, we approach life with childlike excitement; seizing life with the same joy that comes from opening presents on Christmas morning and finding our Easter basket on a special Sunday in spring. God’s time is a gift that transcends Christmas and Easter. God’s clock is grounded in infinite HOPE… a gift that we are able to open endlessly. The HOPE that comes from God’s timing isn’t bound to earthly hours, days or even years. This HOPE envelopes God’s gifts into one unwrappable gift that is infinitely better than anything we can EVER imagine. It has been said: Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call today the present. When we measure our life by God’s clock, we live in the present. It’s in His present when we experience His gift of HOPE… each and every day.
When we rush, we miss out on God’s best. However, with God’s timing, the best is yet to come… INDEFINITELY. While the words rush and wait are both spelled with four letters, they couldn’t be any more opposite in regards to God’s clock. When we rush God’s time, we are bound to experience permanent roadblocks on God’s path for our lives. When we rush, we make decisions based on emotion… decisions not grounded in God’s Book of Truth. On the other hand, when we wait on God, our decisions are based on facts and Biblical principles. When we wait on Him, we wait on His very best. I don’t know about you, but I find comfort in waiting on God’s best for my life; knowing the best is yet to come. Our HOPE is wrapped up in His clock. We find our HOPE in Him when we WAIT on Him. God’s clock… His gift… our HOPE!
I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits,
and in His word I put my hope.
I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning.
Psalm 130:5-6