God's Coaching #363

God's Coaching #363

Go ahead and blink. Don’t worry—you won’t miss a thing. The annual Rickshaw Challenge isn’t the world’s slowest race, but it’s close. The Rickshaw Challenge is a series of four annual automobile races in India using—you guessed it—rickshaws. If you don’t know what an auto rickshaw is, picture a goofy-looking, three-wheeled, motorized bicycle that includes covered seating for three people. Add a seven-horsepower lawnmower engine, and you’ve got a pretty good idea. These vehicles can cruise at 35 miles per hour and top out at 50. It’s not exactly NASCAR.

Anyone with a need for (not-so-much) speed can enter any of four separate Rickshaw Challenge races. They are held along various courses in India at different times of the year. The 2010–2011 Classic Run, for instance, was a 10-day trek starting on December 29 that stretched 590 miles from Chennai to Poovar. Auto rickshaws are not the world’s safest vehicles. The Rickshaw Challenge website admits that they are “not well-regarded in safety crash tests.” But fear not, rickshaw drivers! The race’s website also gives us this good news: “Because auto rickshaws have low maximum speeds, they’re not likely to get into major crashes.”

What’s the Score?

So maybe your heart isn’t set on entering the next Rickshaw Challenge. After all, who likes slow? Have you ever wondered why God often doesn’t answer prayers right away? Or why God fails to judge wicked people more quickly? Or why Jesus hasn’t returned yet? If we’re not careful, we can start thinking God is slow or distant or that he has forgotten us.

But he is none of those things. The Lord’s timing is not like ours. He is the eternal God of the universe, without beginning or end. While a month or a year may seem like an eternity to us, it’s a microscopic speck on God’s timeline. As 2 Peter 3:8 says, “A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.” This truth calls for faith, patience, and persistence on our part. Keep praying. Keep trusting God. His timing isn’t slow; it’s perfect. He will do what’s best for you . . . in his time.

On the Ball

Keep a prayer journal to track when God answers your prayers. Some answers might come the same day. Others might take years. But God’s timing is always right.

Coach’s Comment

You must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. 2 Peter 3:8-9