God’s Timing Is Perfect (Even When It Feels Late)

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Horatio Spafford knew something about life's unexpected challenges. He was a successful attorney and real estate investor who lost a fortune in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Around the same time, his beloved four-year-old son died of scarlet fever.

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Thinking a vacation would do his family some good, he sent his wife and four daughters on a ship to England, planning to join them after he'd finished some pressing business at home.

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Many days later, a telegram arrives with the words no parent ever wants to read, Saved Alone, What Shall I Do? Their ship went down while crossing the Atlantic.

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His wife survived. His daughters did not. He booked the next crossing to reach her. Days into the voyage, waves thudding against the hull, he stared out at a gray, aching sea. What do you say to God when your heart says, He's late?

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Welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm Bart Lager, and I've had the privilege of serving as a pastor for over 40 years. In these few minutes together, we'll look at God's Word together and discover how to walk by faith in the everyday struggles of life. Ecclesiastes 3.11 says, Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end. It's a reminder that God's timing doesn't always match ours, but it is always right. Waiting on God can feel unbearable. We pray and we plead, and it seems like he's silent, or worse, late. But Scripture insists that God is never late. He is right on time, working out beauty we often can't see in the moment. Think about how many times in the Bible people must have wondered if God had forgotten them. What about Abraham and Sarah as they waited decades for a child?

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Joseph sat in a prison cell for years. Mary and Martha watched their brother Lazarus die while Jesus delayed his arrival. In each case, God wasn't absent. He was weaving a story that required waiting. The hardest part is that his timing rarely lies up with our calendar. You know, we want the healing right now, the answer now. We want the breakthrough to happen immediately. But Ecclesiastes 3.11 reminds us that God's timing isn't just about delay.

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It's about creating beauty. When he does act, you know, it's not rushed, and it's not random.

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It's always perfectly fitting, even though he doesn't feel that way. On that voyage to England, Horatio Spafford poured out his grief to God. Out of that sorrow came a hymn we still sing today.

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When peace like a river attendeth my way, it is well with my soul. It wasn't a denial.

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It was faith. Oh, his grief? It didn't simply vanish, but beauty grew in its midst. And that song has carried countless believers through storms of their own.

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That's what God does. He takes even the darkest delays and somehow brings light in his time.

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Here's today's challenge. Name one area of your life where you feel like God is late and write it down. Then, instead of demanding answers, pray. Lord, I trust your timing. Make it beautiful in your time. That shift may not erase the waiting, but it will remind you that you're not waiting alone. Father, waiting is hard. And we don't always understand your timing, but we trust that you're good.

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Help us release our timeline and lean into yours. Make the things we can't see beautiful in their season. In Jesus' name, amen.

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Thanks for joining me today on Daily Devotions for Busy Lives.

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Remember, God's timing may feel late, but it's always perfect.

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Come back next time for more encouragement to help you live grounded in God's truth. Until then, God bless and have a great day.