Trust His Pace

Psalm 27:14
“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”

Waiting has a way of revealing what we really believe about God.

It is easy to say:

“God's timing is perfect.”

Until His timing feels late.

It is easy to say:

“I trust the Lord.”

Until you've been praying for something for years and still don't see any evidence that it's coming.

You want to be married.

You've prayed about it.

You've worked on yourself.

You've healed from some things.

You've learned from past relationships.

You've tried to remain obedient.

You've been waiting.

And waiting.

And waiting.

Meanwhile...

You don't even have a prospect.

Not in a relationship.

Not somebody you're getting to know.

Not even a “Hey, how are you?” worth getting excited about.

Nothing.

And that's when waiting starts talking.

“Maybe it's never going to happen.”

“Maybe God forgot about me.”

“Maybe I need to help Him out.”

“Maybe I'm being too picky.”

“Maybe I should call that person back.”

Now hold on.

Because that last one is how we get ourselves in trouble.

Waiting has a way of making old situations look better than they actually were.

When we're tired of waiting, we can start reconsidering people God already showed us weren't right.

We can start lowering standards we once prayed for the strength to establish.

We can start calling compromise “being realistic.”

And if we're not careful, impatience will convince us to accept something simply because we're tired of having nothing.

But nothing is sometimes better than the wrong thing.

Let me say that again.

Nothing is sometimes better than the wrong thing.

Waiting for the right person can be difficult.

Recovering from choosing the wrong one can be devastating.

That's why we have to learn to trust God's timing even when we don't understand His pace.

Because those aren't necessarily the same thing.

We may believe God is taking too long.

God may know exactly what He's doing.

We see another birthday coming.

God sees what He's developing in us.

We see another wedding invitation.

God sees what He's protecting us from.

We see couples taking vacations, getting engaged, buying homes, and building families.

God sees the entire story.

And we don't.

That is where trust comes in.

Trust is not saying, “I know God will give me exactly what I want when I want it.”

Trust is saying:

“God, even when I don't understand what You're doing, I trust who You are.”

Habakkuk 2:3 says:

“Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.”

There are things that feel delayed from our perspective that are still operating within God's appointed time.

And that's difficult because we live by clocks.

Calendars.

Birthdays.

Biological timelines.

Anniversaries.

Expectations.

We say:

“By now, I thought I would be married.”

“By now, I thought I would have children.”

“By now, I thought my life would look different.”

By now.

Those two words can create so much disappointment.

But God never promised to build our lives according to the timeline we created for ourselves.

He asks us to trust Him with the life He gave us.

And sometimes that trust looks like continuing to WAIT when there is absolutely nothing on the horizon.

No prospect.

No clue.

No indication that anything is about to change.

Just you and God.

Maybe that's where the deeper work happens.

Because if we're only content when a relationship appears to be coming, then our peace is still attached to the relationship.

But when we can say:

“Lord, I still desire marriage. I'm still praying for it. I'm still believing You with that desire. But I'm not going to disobey You because I'm tired of waiting.”

That's trust.

When you refuse to entertain somebody you know isn't God's best simply because you're lonely...

That's trust.

When you maintain your sexual boundaries even though you wonder how much longer you'll have to...

That's trust.

When everybody around you seems to be getting what you've prayed for and you continue celebrating them without abandoning your own faith...

That's trust.

When there isn't a single prospect and you still refuse to panic...

That's trust.

WAIT isn't asking you to pretend you don't want marriage.

You can want it.

You can pray about it.

You can have moments when waiting feels hard.

You can tell God you're frustrated.

You can tell Him you're lonely.

You can tell Him you don't understand.

Faith doesn't require us to lie about how waiting feels.

It requires us to decide what we will do while it feels that way.

Will we trust?

Or will we take control?

Will we obey?

Or will we compromise?

Will we believe God knows what He's doing?

Or will we decide His pace is too slow and start making our own arrangements?

Psalm 27 doesn't simply tell us to wait.

It says:

“Be strong and take heart.”

Because sometimes waiting requires strength.

Especially when you don't see anything happening.

But the absence of visible movement does not mean God is absent.

So if you've been praying for a spouse and there isn't a single prospect in sight, don't panic.

Don't resurrect what God helped you bury.

Don't lower your standards.

Don't abandon your boundaries.

Don't mistake God's pace for His neglect.

Keep living.

Keep growing.

Keep serving.

Keep becoming.

Keep trusting.

And keep WAITing.

Because the goal isn't simply to eventually get what you've been waiting for.

It's to become someone who can say:

“God, I trusted You even when I couldn't see what You were doing.”

You may not understand His pace.

But you can still trust His timing.