I am in a season in my life where I have been learning more and more to trust God–that He will come through for me and my family and the world in ways that far exceed what any of us could have expected. I must admit, though, that His timing doesn’t always align with what I’d like for it to be. But, of course, He doesn’t work for me–I work for Him!

For example on the positive side, it was a real shock when I lost my job in June. However, God came through in a “manna in the desert” sort of way, and within a week, I had landed a consulting gig. I was (and still am) amazed by such a quick blessing to answer my prayers.

On the other hand, though, at about the same time, we had put our house in Colorado on the market to try to sell it. This was a very difficult decision for us, but I felt like it was consistent with (or at least not opposed to) God’s will for our lives. We had planned to eventually move to Florida to retire, and this seemed like a good start to our glide path into retirement. However, even though the real estate market in Colorado had been very hot, it seemed like it cooled off about we week before we were ready to put our house on the market. Ugh!

The situation is frustrating and actually rather baffling–neither one of our realtor duo can figure out why it’s not selling, nor can anyone else in their real estate office. I believe very strongly that God can do anything, and we have been praying for this for months, but still nothing.

But still, this is part of trusting God: knowing that He is working for our good, even when we can’t tell.

In a church we are trying out near our new home (Generations Christian Church), the sermon today was the last in a series on the book of Daniel. Among other things, he pointed out one of the odd little passages (there are many in this book), in chapter 10 in which Daniel has a vision of an encounter with an angel. In this conversation, the angel says:

You don’t see this verse on many refrigerator magnets. So, basically what’s going on is that Daniel had been praying and fasting for weeks, but had not seen any results. God had sent an angel to help him with his request, but that angel had gotten tied up fighting an intense battle in the spiritual world–so much so that God sent another angel to help the first angel. All of this had happened without Daniel having any idea that God had sent two angels so He could answer Daniel’s prayers!

So, What Does This Mean for Us?

This means that not only do I (we) have to trust Him for positive outcomes, but I (we) also have to trust the timing in which He provides them. We have to trust that He is working for our good, even when we can’t see it. In fact, much as it pains me to admit, it could even be that the timing for the answer to this particular prayer could be a precise reminder from God, as King Solomon learned:

“…In its time.” In God’s time. Not in my time, no matter how much I wish it might be otherwise. And yet, at least I know that it will be beautiful when it does happen.