Have you ever found yourself asking God why something is taking so long?

I recently rewatched the Karate Kid. It’s a fun movie with some good lessons in it. (Spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen it) If you haven’t seen it, a kid moves across the country to California and gets bullied. An older man from Okinawa (Mr. Miyagi) who is the handyman of his building offers to train him in karate to defend himself.

One part I always enjoy is Daniel’s training. Daniel shows up the first day and Mr. Miyagi has him wash and wax a bunch of cars using specific movements. Once Daniel finishes, he comes back thinking washing the cars was a form of payment and they’d start the training, but Mr. Miyagi has him sand his deck instead. This continues as Daniel then paints Mr. Miyagi’s fence and house.

Finally, Daniel is sick of it. He was supposed to be trained in karate, but he was just doing a bunch of manual labor. So, he tells Mr. Miyagi off. Then, Mr. Miyagi has Daniel demonstrate the various movements of all the work he had been doing. As Daniel does this, Mr. Miyagi punches and kicks. Daniel sees that those movements he’s been doing for the work, block Mr. Miyagi’s attacks.

Yes, Daniel had done a bunch of manual labor for Mr. Miyagi, but all that time had also been his training. He was learning movements and building muscles and was now able to defend himself. He just hadn’t realized what was happening.

God’s Timing
God works in His own ways and according to His own timing. When certain people of Israel tried to seize Jesus earlier in His ministry, they discovered just this. Jesus would eventually let them seize Him and even kill Him, but not yet. It wasn’t time.

The Bible and our own lives are filled with stories of God doing things differently than expected or at a time that wasn’t expected.

We like things to happen now. We don’t like to wait, but sometimes we have to. Sometimes it simply isn’t God’s time, yet. Then again, sometimes it is God’s time and He’s already doing it, but like Daniel, we just don’t realize that He is preparing us without our understanding.

Almightly God,

You operate according to Your will and Your timing. Give me wisdom to trust Your ways. Give me patience to trust Your timing.

Amen.