God’s Planned Delays

Deferred. Held up. On the shelf. Staved off. Pushed back. Expecting. Hopeful. Suspenseful. Sitting tight. PREPARING.

What are you praying for? What are you saving for? What are you expecting? What’s holding you up? Are you delaying, or is God?

Peach-picking at The Southern Peach Company April 2023

Waiting, while you’re trusting God when it seems like He is not answering, is hard. Waiting, while seeing others around you receiving what your heart longs for, is hard. Waiting, while you’re ill or hurt and seeing others being healed, is hard. It feels like you’re playing Tug of War between yourself and God, thinking you know what’s best and showing obedience towards God’s will. It’s easy to be frustrated and resentful. It’s easy to compare your seasons to other’s seasons. You may be telling God that you are ready and feel like He may be delaying you. In your season of delay, God is preparing you for what you’ve been praying for. Those weak parts of your faith will be tested. You may be in the trenches, battered and hopeless, that’s when the enemy will come for you in these weak moments to tell you:

He isn’t good.

He isn’t listening.

He isn’t working.

He isn’t trustworthy.

He isn’t faithful.

He doesn’t love you.

But YOU must choose:

Choose to live in Him because He lives in us.

Choose to persevere and endure because He is building your character, firm foundation, and faith.

Choose to love because He IS love.

Choose to keep praying fervently because He is listening and working.

Choose peace because He fights our battles with us.

Choose patience because it is the utmost humbling surrender to the One who promises to keep no good thing from you when you fully trust in Him.

Choose to cling to hope because if not today, and if not tomorrow, eventually, God is going to show up and bless you.

In Matthew 7:7-8 Jesus says, “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Peach-picking at The Southern Peach Company April 2023

Our pastor, Corey Abney, once said, “God’s delay often precedes our deliverance. God’s love is not always obvious in His actions or His inactions. You don’t know what hangs in the balance of your obedience to King Jesus. What seems like a small, average, or unusual thing today, might produce the fruit in your life that changes the trajectory of it and/or your family.” I have actually had these quotes written on cardstock and taped above my vanity since last year. God did not say in our deliverance that there will not be hard and sorrowful times in our lives, but to ask and seek Him all the time, every time. In John 16:33 NLT Jesus says, “I have told you all this so that you have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” He will wither away the storms. He will calm the seas. He will mend and use the broken. He will bring light to the world. He will guide and protect you. He will bring purpose to this season.

Pray for strength to surrender your anxieties and worries to God. Ask God to replace them with His peace, to fill your heart with trust in His care and planned delay. Pray that your faith only grows stronger. Thank God for walking you through these hard and long seasons. I encourage you to share one verse from this blog post with someone who has been on your heart. Pray for them through their season of planned delay and that they will find peace through trusting in Him.

Be a light + stay salty!

Talk soon!

Peach-picking at The Southern Peach Company April 2023

Other Bible verses to soak in:

Luke 1:45 NLT says, “You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”

Habakkuk 2:3 says, “This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. it will not be delayed.”

Romans 8:32 says, “Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything?”

2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.”

Songs to praise Him in:

“What Are We Waiting For?” by King & Country

“Jireh” by Elevation Worship & Maverick City