In church on Sunday our pastor said something that resonated deep in my heart.
“God’s train is always the last one on the tracks!” He gave the analogy of standing in a train station and waiting, waiting, waiting for your train to come in. Some trains arrive perfectly on time—while others are late and we are forced to wait for them.
I’ve thought about that a lot since I heard it and how it applies to our own lives in the season we are in. I don’t know about you guys, but there are some days when I get so tired of waiting for God to move and to act. When a season of trial feels like it may never end, I grow weary and lose heart. I cry out to the Lord and beg that He would just come and make it all right. But still, sometimes He makes me wait….and wait….and wait. Waiting can be so very hard.
God’s train is always the last one on the tracks.
I have often heard people say that God is an eleventh-hour God. He makes us wait until the eleventh hour and then, Boom, He acts! I beg to differ. On days like the ones we have had recently, the eleventh hour comes and goes and still we wait for the victory. Still God is silent. Still He makes us wait patiently for Him to move.
You know, I don’t understand the Lord. I never will. His ways are a complete mystery to me. Sometimes I read the Bible and I see the things that He allowed His people to endure, when really, He could simply have made every situation right in the blink of an eye. But most of the time, He didn’t. He allowed His chosen people to be tested at every turn. He chose for them many a journey which I’m quite sure they would never have chosen for themselves. I mean really, who in their right mind would choose to get in a lions’ den or hop into a fiery furnace? And which teenager would say yes to the voice of the Spirit when told she would give birth to the Savior of the world (and be ostracized by many). No, sir-ee, not me! Yet these people were so yielded to God’s will.
I read the stories of people who endured excruciating hardship—never giving up but pressing on toward the prize. And then there are the many stories of those whom God called to wait–Sarah had to wait a ridiculous number of years to finally have a baby. The Israelites waited in the wilderness for years and years, and poor old Job’s testing? Oh my word! Amazing dude. I bet he thought it would never end. The number of times God said, “Wait!”
I want to be like the people I read about! Sadly though, I fail most days. I grumble, my words less than edifying. I despair. I stumble. I fall….and I fail to embrace the things that God ALLOWS to happen in my life. Because ultimately, it’s ALL for His glory.
“I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.” ~ Isaiah 42:8
I cannot even count the number of times I forget the one thing I know with all my heart to be truth–the thing God has proved to me over and over and over again….
God always, always, always is faithful to deliver His people! He promises never to abandon nor forsake us, and He doesn’t. Why is it so easy for me to forget that when the trials of life come knocking at my door?
The Lord always comes through for us—even if He makes us wait just a wee bit (of a whole lot) longer than we were expecting. It’s in the waiting that we see His faithfulness like never before. It’s in the waiting that we experience His grace, His provision, His love, His mercies, and His peace that passes all understanding.
Waiting on the Lord is all part of our growth, our maturity, and our becoming more like Christ.
“Be still in the presence of the LORD, and wait patiently for him to act.” Psalm 37:7
Anthony and I have been slow to learn many lessons in our lives. Gosh, we sure have made some awful blunders. Most of those times have been when we have taken things into our own hands. Those times when we have gotten fed up or weary of waiting for an answer from heaven and have just taken the burden upon ourselves, rushed full-steam ahead and taken action ourselves. The end result? An absolute mess! Pain, heartache, financial woes, etc.
Ugh!
We’re slow learners. But one lesson we’re finally getting a revelation of in our own lives is that rushing ahead of the will of God at a hundred miles an hour is just not the best thing! That’s not to say that we won’t do it again at some point, because we’re human and have that thing called a free will, but after many failed attempts at taking our lives into our own hands I think we are finally starting to get it. Waiting patiently for the Lord is a far, far better option!
We’re learning in this, our own season of waiting, that Jesus is always working behind the scenes. Even when we see nothing at all, even when God is so silent…still He is working on our behalf. On those days when everything seems to be falling apart at the seams or we feel so stuck in a certain situation—He is quietly going about His business in ways we cannot see, feel, hear, or touch! That, my friends, is one of the beauties and mysteries of the Lord.
Jesus is working on YOUR behalf!
I love the words I put at the top of this post. They remind me to see God’s blessings in the small things—the things that I previously may have taken for granted. There are blessings in the most trying, most difficult of situations. Choosing to see them as the Father’s way of letting us know that He is near is so comforting. I wish I could see His amazing blessings in the “ordinary” more often–raindrops, healing tears, the love of a friend, a hug from a child, a smile from a stranger, an unexpected encouragement, the warm sun on my face.
How beautiful are His unexpected blessings when we’re in a stretching season of waiting! Too often I become so focused on the situation that I fail to see the Father’s blessings right in front of me.
And then, after what may feel like forever, the Almighty Father comes through for us. As He always has. As He always will.
God’s train may be the last one on the tracks, but it is always, always right on time—never a moment too soon nor a moment too late.
If you’re in a season of waiting for the Lord’s deliverance out of a situation, I pray that you would not grow weary and lose heart, but that you would be so focused on the ONE who is more than able to bring healing, bring opportunity, bring restoration, bring provision, and bring abundant life into anything you are facing….knowing that His timing IS always perfect!
Never too soon. But never, ever a moment too late!
