Your Life is According to His Perfect Timing

As we approach the New Year, and make New Year’s resolutions, it’s important that we remember that all things happen in His perfect timing, because God’s timing is always right. Many of us complain that we don’t know God’s plan for us, while others like myself may have gotten prophecies at one point or another and wonder when they will come into fruition. We want to rush our way to success, and we forget that what we perceive as the correct time may not be His perfect timing.

A Dream

On Christmas Eve this year, I had a strange dream. My sister and I were running with our suitcases to get on to a flight. It was a small plane — the kind you have to get on the tarmac yourself to access. We ran and ran but we didn’t seem to be getting much closer to the aeroplane, and other people overtook us. In the end, I woke up before I could get onto the plane. Altogether, it was a rather distressing dream.

What strikes me about this dream as particularly strange is that our parents were nowhere to be seen, and that we didn’t even know the destination of that flight. Furthermore, all the main doors to the plane were closed. We were trying to get onto the back door of the plane.

When I woke up, I prayed about the dream and I felt God telling me that the dream didn’t mean what I thought it did. I thought the dream was possibly pointing to a future failure — of not achieving all that I wished to. Instead, I felt the Spirit tell me I’ve been so busy comparing myself to other people and their successes, and about where they’re headed in life, I’ve forgotten some fundamental things.

God’s Timing is Always Right

Firstly, in life, I’d forgotten that not everyone is bound for the same destination. I can’t speak for everyone, but I do feel in life many people are told they need to go to school, go to university, get married, have kids, and hope they die a ripe old age. The truth of the matter is life doesn’t always work out that way. For people with mental illnesses and other chronic illnesses — such as myself — our lives often get disrupted. We can no longer fit into the ideal narrative that society wants for us. You may curse in anger at your misfortune, but know that God will is there for you and will help you according to His perfect timing.

What God reminded me from this dream is that things happen in His perfect timing. Jeremiah 29:11-12 says: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.” God’s plan for us isn’t always what we might think it is. Some of us may be destined to be doctors, others may become teachers or priests, or artists. The possibilities are endless.

However, His timing does not always line up with where we see ourselves. 2 Peter 3:8-9 says: “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” God has always existed. This means He existed before the concept of time itself. And being that he is omnipresent, He exists at every moment in time all at once. Can you even comprehend that? We are so focused on our own lives, we forget the enormity and magnitude of God’s nature.

How can I, an imperfect being turn around to the Almighty and complain that I failed at university when meanwhile, perhaps graduating wasn’t even part of His divine plan? Or maybe I am meant to graduate later in life. I have to trust that God’s timing is always right. Graduating at 21 years old is just part of that idealised narrative society has forced me to accept as the best way to achieve at life. (Note: I’m not saying you shouldn’t have an honest conversation with God when you are frustrated with His Divine Plan for your life. I’m merely stating that as mortals, His plan for us is bigger that we can understand.)

We Are Set Apart

Proverbs 16:9 says: “We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.” (NLT) There is nothing wrong with having dreams for yourself. God wants you to aspire to great things and He wants to see you succeed in life. But we should all be mouldable. Isaiah 64:8 says, “And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.” (NLT) We should allow God to direct our lives. As the potter, he is our creator, but his is also Abba (father). He wants the best for us.

Deuteronomy 14:2 says, “You have been set apart as holy to the Lord your God, and he has chosen you from all the nations of the earth to be his own special treasure.” (NLT) As Christians, we have been called to be different to other people. This means we have a particular guideline for how we should behave, and the path we should take for our lives. This guide can be found in the Bible, and through the divine wisdom and knowledge that the Holy Spirit reveals to us.