“But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt.” (Acts 7:17) There are timings to God’s promises, and our impatient efforts to bring them forward never work. The number of children of Israel increased and multiplied as the time drew near to their exodus from bondage and their entry into freedom. Most of us want to make things happen before time, but we cannot. God has a set time.
When God’s time for another exodus — this time from Babylon — was seventy years away, the prophet warned the Jews to “take wives and beget sons and daughters [during their captivity]; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that you may be increased there, and not diminished.”
Moreover, God instructed them to “seek the peace of the city where I have commanded you to be carried away captives, and pray to the LORD for it [for Babylon], for in its peace you will have peace.” He also warned them not to listen to the false prophets among them that would predict otherwise (Jeremiah 29:4-8).
Jeremiah 29:11 has become a popular text in recent years, and it’s not hard to understand why: this verse promised “a hope and a future” for the exiled Jews. We extrapolate and claim this same prophetic promise for ourselves and our children. But if the time hasn’t yet come for our hope to be realized, maybe because the promised future lies well beyond our present situation, then we best get on with making the most of the situation and the best of what we have.
Faith isn’t always about “making things happen” — sometimes it’s about waiting patiently and trusting until they take place in God’s time. I’m not referring to healing or to other promises that are ours in Jesus Christ in the here and now, but to those that God has promised will come to pass in the future.
If you’ve been wanting to get into ministry, but as yet are not equipped for it — or for rising to the next level — then make the most of what you have, until the time when the Lord calls you higher. If He were to give you what you want before you were ready for it, you would probably make a mess of it. King Saul had it all and made a mishmash of it. David waited for God’s time and built a kingdom. Saul was “head and shoulders” above everyone else, but David had a heart for God.
“In your patience possess your souls” Jesus said. Or as one translation puts it, “In mastering yourself you will save yourself.” (Luke 21:19) This is a good thing to focus on, don’t you think? Then, when the time of that prophecy spoken over you arrives, you’ll be well prepared for the promise that is about to come to pass. Your time will come — just don’t try to hurry it up.