Trusting God’s Timing When Life Is Disappointing
Today, I’m sharing a lesson I learned the hard way several years ago when a painful disappointment left me reeling in defeat. If you need encouragement about trusting God’s timing when life is disappointing, these words are also for you today.
Trusting God’s Timing
Like tears, droplets of the grey firmament fall forsaken on the front step. I watch from the window as they splash with more force than expected. My heart is heavy, and I’ve been having a difficult time trusting God’s timing lately.
I’m grieving the loss of a dream that didn’t work out. I know I can trust God’s timing, but the loss still feels like a gut punch.
Most likely, you’ve faced these disappointments, too.
Your situation looks different than mine, but the ache is the same.
When our dreams fall short, it’s tempting to lose hope and give in to despair. I reflect on this as the rain streams down the windowpane.
God brings our dreams to pass in his way—in his timing—and we can trust that his ways are always better than our ways (more on this here). Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean it’s easy when our hopes are crushed.
As I reflect on my disappointment, I remind myself of this: God often lets our dreams die out of his love and protection.
Trusting God’s Timing With Shattered Dreams
What dream in your life feels like it has died?
I encourage you to talk to God and ask him what to do next. Meanwhile, remember this: If the dream was from God, you can trust him to resurrect it when the time is right.
When a dream is God-given, we can trust in God to bring the dream to pass in his perfect timing. Ask God to help you trust that he will revive the dream if it is in his perfect will.
When a dream is God-given, we can trust God to bring the dream to pass in his perfect timing. #TrustingGod #Faith Share on XYou can trust God to open every door that is right and close every door that is not right in your life. He never stops working on your behalf.
Bible Verses About Trusting God’s Timing
When we feel disappointed, it’s easy to get swept into our emotions. In these times, standing on God’s promises can help us press through our pain.
Let’s see what God’s Word has to say about trusting God’s timing. I encourage you to soak in these truths if you are navigating a disappointment today.
1. God is able to do the impossible.
“This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life” (Ezekiel 37:5 NIV).
In the book of Ezekiel, God breathes life into a valley of dry bones. Ezekiel watches as tendons and ligaments are reformed. He marvels as God puts flesh on the dry bones.
God can bring your shattered dreams to life as well. Trust that if it is his will, he can do the impossible.
2. Nothing is too hard for God.
“Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you” (Jeremiah 32:17).
I memorized this verse during the first year of my teaching career. I was facing some obstacles that felt insurmountable, and I felt like I was failing.
These words reminded me that God would carry me. I knew he could do anything by the power of his outstretched arm. His arm is not too short to save you either.
3. God works all things for the good of those who love him.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
No matter what you are facing today, you can trust that God is able to use it for good. He invites you to wait and watch with hopeful expectation.
4. God’s timing is different than our timing.
“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” (2 Peter 3:8).
I don’t wait well.
I also tend to rush ahead of God.
This verse reminds me that God’s timing is far different than our timing. A day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. God is beyond time. We don’t need to worry when God seems slow to act. He is always on time.
5. God has appropriated a time for everything.
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
Close to ten years ago, I took a giant leap of faith and pursued a writing dream. When it didn’t work out according to my hopes, I was disappointed. I had no way of knowing that our family was going to walk through a dark and difficult year. God didn’t let the dream come to pass because he knew the timing wasn’t right.
Several years later, he did open the door for my dream to take flight. His timing was perfect.
There is a perfect time for God to bring your dream to pass. Seek him. Obey him. Meanwhile, you can trust in his timing.
6. God has called us to live for today.
“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring” (Proverbs 27:1).
I’m a planner and list-maker.
It’s easy for me to get caught up in my list-making and planning and forget that God is sovereign over my plans.
Planning is wise, but we can rest in the truth that God holds the keys to every tomorrow.
7. Trust in God’s timing, and he will make your path straight.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
When I don’t understand what God is doing, I return to this verse.
We are not called to rely on our own understanding. Instead, we are to turn to God, ask him to help us trust him, and seek him continually. When we do so, he makes our paths straight and guides us.
8. God is sovereign over our plans.
“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps” (Provers 16:9).
God wants to establish our steps.
Our role is to look to him and do our best to obey him.
9. God’s plans are good and full of hope.
“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” (Jeremiah 29:11).
These words were a promise to God’s people during the Babylonian captivity, and they are a promise to his children today as well.
God’s plans for his children are good. We can trust that he wants the best for our lives. He fights for us.
10. God’s power is made perfect in our weakness.
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Do you feel weak today?
This familiar verse reminds us that our weakness is the perfect backdrop for God to show up in his power.
A Final Insight on Trusting God’s Timing
As I reflect on my greatest personal losses and setbacks in life, I think of the jobs that didn’t work out, the book deals that fell apart, and even the relationships that disintegrated and broke my heart.
At the time when those losses took place, I felt crushed and defeated.
However, every difficult loss eventually created space for God’s perfect plans to unfold in my life.
The breakup that broke my heart set me free to meet the man God had planned to become my husband and partner in life.
The job I didn’t get created space for me to find a better job.
The book deal that fell apart created space for me to write a book with my daughter instead, and I wouldn’t trade the experience of writing a book with my daughter for 10,000 book deals elsewhere.
We can trust God to make the way straight and clear for us when we seek him with our whole hearts. Keep trusting God’s timing. He will prove himself faithful to you, too.
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