Keep Me Patient Until The Right Time

1 Peter 5:6 – Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

1 Peter 5:7 – Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

5:6 So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time.

5:7 Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you. (Message Bible)

When we pray we expect answers right here right now. We somehow believe that anything should be given anytime we ask. We feel angry and unloved when answers to prayers delay. The Bible talks of the right time. May God keep me patient until the right time!

When the Bible talks of the right time for an answer to prayer, our next challenge is that we want to know the right time. Which year will be the right time. Which month? Which week? Which day? What time? We want to know the right time!

Sometimes we wait until we even doubt if actually there is a right time. We want to know the right time, so that it is easier to wait. We want to know the right time so that we can confirm that God actually answers prayers.

The problem with knowing the right time is that it kills faith. Do you need faith between January and December when you know that an answer will come on December 20th? When you know exactly when an answer will come, you push it to the back of your mind and get busy with present issues. You won’t bother praying if you know when the answer is due.

Matthew 4:7 – Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

When you know the right time that a prayer will be answered, you put God to test. That day God has to deliver His promise or you will conclude with evidence that He is dishonest and unreliable. God ceases to be sovereign, since He must now act according to your expectations at the right time.

Knowing the right time can be treacherous to faith and our perception and relationship to God. The focus of our relationship with God will be what He gives us in time and not who He is to us. Knowing the right time, superficially seems attractive but in-depth it’s unsafe for us.

When we know the right time, our relationship with God will be based on the good times when He provides. We will love Him because He provides and will provide.

Genesis 3:5 – “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When we know the right time, we will be like God. We will know what He has accepted to give us. We will know what He has rejected. We will know what He has delayed.

When we know the right time, we will not need prayer and preaching. All we will need is patience. If you pray for a job and God tells you the right time when you will get it is after two years, do you still need encouragement? Will you need sermons?

Knowing the right time means we will even know our dying day. If God will grant my request after ten years, that means, until then I will be a live. What will happen to readiness for Christ’s return anytime? Knowing the right time means you can guess the time for Christ’s return, and consequently no need for readiness, until we are close enough!

God tells us in our text today that He will lift us up in due time, at the right time. We do not need to know the right time, but our prayer should be that He keeps us patient until the right time, in Jesus’s name, Amen!

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