All in Good Time

God's Timing

This week I’ve been thinking about timing. Very often we find ourselves itching for something to happen, only to feel as though it’s taking forever. Why does the kettle seem to take so long to boil when all you want is a cup of tea? Why do traffic lights seem to stay red the longest when you’re running late? Why does a long-awaited appointment feel like it will never arrive?

Time is a strange thing. On one hand, it’s fixed – the clock ticks on steadily, the earth spins at the same pace, and the sun rises and sets in its rhythm every single day. Yet our experience of time is anything but fixed. It can crawl unbearably slowly or slip away far too quickly, leaving us wishing we had just a little more of it.

Ecclesiastes 3 is a reminder that, as confusing as time may feel, there is a deeper reality: God’s timing. The writer declares that “there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” And just a little further down, verse 14 gives us a powerful insight into the permanence and perfection of what God does.

The Message translates it this way:
“I’ve also concluded that whatever God does, that’s the way it’s going to be, always. No addition, no subtraction. God’s done it and that’s it.”

The New King James Version, however, puts it slightly differently:
“I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him.”

What’s striking here is the difference in tone. One speaks to God’s unchangeable nature in a matter-of-fact way, while the other calls us to revere and even fear Him because of it. Both translations, however, carry the same truth: God’s timing is not our timing. His works are complete, perfect, and eternal – and they cannot be rushed or altered by our impatience.

That can be hard to accept when we’re stuck in the waiting. We want answers now. We want doors to open now. We want change now. But God knows the full picture, and His timing is always exact, even when it doesn’t make sense to us.

So, perhaps the next time the kettle takes forever to boil, or the traffic lights refuse to change, we might let those little frustrations serve as reminders: God is in control of time itself. His plans cannot be hurried, but neither can they be stopped.

A Prayer for Trusting God’s Timing

Spirit, we know Your timing to be exact and perfect, and that You mapped out our every moment before we were even born. Forgive us for the times we’ve clung to our own schedules and allowed the pressures of the world to pull us away from Your peace. We give to You the moments we’ve spent despairing over the “right nows” and the heartache of the “but whens.” Teach us again to listen for Your still, small voice and to trust that everything is made beautiful in Your time.
Amen.