Hearing His Voice #86 - The One Year Hearing His Voice Devotional
Hearing His Voice #86
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
Ecclesiastes 3:7
Parents wait for the right time to correct their children. Children wait for the right time to pop a big request on their parents. Friends and spouses wait for the right time to give hard advice or share exciting news. Public relations experts wait for the right time to leak bad news or make big announcements. And businesspeople wait for the right time to announce everything from layoffs to mergers to bold new directions. As human beings, we have a keen sense of critical moments.
Unless we’re talking to God, of course. Then we expect Him to answer our prayers right away or reveal His will soon after we ask. We lose all sense of timing in our relationship with Him, forgetting that subtleties and patience are a part of any communication. Our spirits far too easily accuse God of holding out on us, or assume that a few days of silence must mean the answer is no. But God has a better sense of timing than we do. He knows the right timing to tell us things, and sometimes it isn’t now.
Conversations with God require patience. Sometimes they follow a pattern of asking a question and waiting a few days for the answer, then asking the next question and waiting a few days for that one to be answered, and so on. These conversations can take months, even years. Though God sometimes gives us a glimpse of the big picture—a vision or a calling to be fulfilled over time—the process of stepping into that big picture usually involves stops and starts, twists and turns, and some excruciating growing pains in the interim. It’s rarely a fast-paced conversation.
Hang on. Don’t rush the process. If God hasn’t answered your question yet, it means only that the moment isn’t right. But it will be. He not only understands when it’s time to speak. He knows when it’s time to be quiet.
Lord, the waiting is the hardest part. I don’t always know how to interpret the rhythm of our conversations. Give me patience to wait and watch for Your words.
