Justice in God’s Timing
“Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you.
For the LORD is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.”
Isaiah 30:18, NRSV
Are you in what feels like a time of trial right now? Are you waiting for God to break in and wondering if He has heard your prayers and seen your tears? Is your heart breaking and you feel like God hasn’t even noticed?
One thing nothing can shield us from — not money, friendship connections of any kind, or even love — are periods of sorrow and heartbreak.
In these difficult times, we can exercise control to different levels: in some situations, we might feel like, with some tactical game planning, we can make a difference to the outcome, but often we have to sit in it and wait for the storm to pass.
One of the hardest things for me to learn as a follower of Jesus has been to allow myself to rest and lean into God in times of hardship and sorrow — my natural reaction is to plan, administrate, create and organize. Over the years, I have realized that God is God and I am not, that times of sorrow and hardship meet us all and that the only way out of these times is through them – right through the middle.
All our endeavors to take control or solve invariably end up delaying both our learning and our healing.
God is a God of justice — the Bible reveals His heart repeatedly — but He operates on His divine timeframe.
Where might God be asking you to wait for His presence and guidance in a time of trial rather than fixing it today? How might you have the courage to lean on His promises of justice and mercy?
“You keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book.”
Psalm 56:8, NLT
