Don’t Make Haste

“He that makes haste with his feet sins.” – Prov. 19:2

Have you ever moved on something too quickly because you were anxious, afraid, or thought you had it all figured out without first seeking God only to have that thing fail and crumble? Or have you wanted to do something so bad but didn’t feel peace from God to go ahead and do that thing and didn’t have the patience to wait on God for a reply?

I’m sure most people, like me, have experienced that to some degree. I went through a similar situation recently where I had a dream about someone. I believed I had the full interpretation and really wanted to go and share it with the person. I was actually very anxious to share it with them but I KNEW I was supposed to wait and pray on it some more to see if God had more to show me about it. But of course, because I was so anxious, I went and told them right away. The person received the dream well when I told them, but in my spirit, I had a strong sense I should have waited and I released it too soon. Sure enough the very next day the person called me and told me God revealed more to them about the dream. The interpretation included way more than the one I had, and God actually wanted to reveal something to ME through the dream and not just to them. Talk about a fail moment. God told me, “if you would have just waited like I impressed on your heart to do, I would have revealed more to you about that dream.”  …Wow. If I would have not been so anxious and simply waited, He would have shown me the full meaning of it. But I thought I had it all figured out, knew exactly what it meant, and was anxious to tell the person so I moved on my direction and leading instead of the Lord’s. I had another situation where I wanted to purchase something from a store that I really needed but when I was about to purchase it, I felt God leading me not to get it at that moment.  A few days to a week later God reminded me of an online store where I could purchase the item (I had completely forgotten about this option). I went to the website and sure enough, the item was there, but it was CHEAPER, aaand it had other items that I needed for cheaper!!!

Waiting on the Minors

Now, although that last situation was a very minor one and the only thing I would have lost from not waiting was a few bucks, God used that small situation to teach me:  1) how to hear His voice and be led by Him, 2) how to wait on Him regarding things, 3) that He cares and wants to be involved in my day to day activities, and 4) to involve Him even in the minor details of my life. Waiting and trusting God to lead us on even the small decisions in life shows our dependence on Him. It shows that we’re really leaning on Him instead of leaning on our own understanding (Prov. 3:5-7). A lot of the little hiccups and issues we have with some of our day to day activities would be eliminated if we just acknowledge God more by asking Him what He wants us to do in those situations and simply involving Him. Proverbs 19:2 says “…he that hastens with his feet sins.” See, sometimes we are just too quick to move and do things on our own, completely forgetting that our Father is the God of the universe who knows ALL things. And little do we know; when we do this we are actually sinning. We hasten by rushing to do things our way and not pausing to ask God to have His way. We’re so anxious about what we need to do that we forget to include Him in those plans. Some of us can’t even hear from God clearly because our wants and desires are so much louder than His voice. Then there are some who don’t want to wait because of PRIDE; we think that we’re ready and we have it all together (waiting requires humility). We forget that God really wants to be involved in the smallest detail of our life and that He can be involved. He’s not just a God who is up in heaven looking down at us; He is a God who is down here with us, doing life with us through His Holy Spirit. Accomplishing the things on my to-do lists are soooo much easier and go so much smoother when I ask God for His wisdom and insight. Sometimes, my to-do list is shortened because he tells me, “no, scratch that out, you don’t need to do or worry about that right now; focus on what’s more important.”  I leave room for Him to have His way. There have even been times whereas I’m driving to run errands because I’ve included Him in the task, He tells me, “take this route instead of the one you plan on taking” because He knows that there will be unexpected traffic in the route that I planned on taking. Involving and seeking God in everything allows for us to grow in intimacy with Him; the Holy Spirit truly becomes our Helper because we seek His help for everything.

Waiting on the Majors

What about waiting and relying on God when it comes to major things such as school, work, a career, and other major life decisions? Truth is if you can’t rely on God for small things, you will not be able to rely on Him for bigger things because you never built up that trust with Him. A vital part of being a Christian is learning to wait on God to receive direction from Him before moving on something. In 2 Samuel 5:17-25 (read it), David inquired of the Lord twice regarding what he should do about the Philistines who were pursuing him to kill him. And both times God gave Him clear instructions. David was in a pressing life or death situation; the natural human response is to do something quickly to save your life. But David was wise enough to consult God and WAIT on Him for a reply. And guess what? David had victory in the situation because he listened to and obeyed God. You may have certain plans when it comes to school, work, a career, relationships, etc. Yes, those plans seem to be good and it’s always wise to have a plan. But have you sought God FIRST regarding those plans? I once heard a person say, “My plan A to Z is to trust God and do what He says.” A lot of us find ourselves in unnecessary ditches and crying out to God after we’ve tried to carry out our plan. And God is like, “if you would have just sought Me before you did those things I could have showed you that it wouldn’t work out or could have shown you a better way.” We end up wasting time, resources, money, and energy on things and people that were never God’s will simply because we didn’t seek Him and wait on Him for a reply. I see people jumping from one pointless relationship to the next and making all sorts of decisions without consulting God, only to end up with more problems. They didn’t have to go through that but because they chose to do things according to their leading instead of according to God’s leading they end up bumping their head and God has to fix that boo-boo. There are people who choose a certain career path without consulting God, only to find out years down the line that it wasn’t God’s desire for them. He had better things in mind for them. What you may want to do may not be what God wants you to do. God’s plans always prosper, yours may not — “many plans are in a man’s mind, but it is the Lord’s purpose for him that will stand” (Prov. 19:21 AMP). God cannot fail. His plans for you cannot fail. So will you wait on Him?

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes when you seek God and what He instructs you to do isn’t what you wanted, it’s painful to let go of your plans and take up His. It hurts and often times, doesn’t make sense. But will you trust Him? He sees things years, months, weeks, days, and even minutes down the line that we in our human ability can’t possibly see. That’s why He is omniscient – All-Knowing. You have to make up in your mind that you won’t move outside of Him. YOUR VISION FOR YOUR LIFE MAY NOT BE GOD’S VISION FOR YOUR LIFE — so will you wait on Him? It may seem like everyone else is flying past you and making moves, your family members may even be nagging you about when you’re gonna do this, that and the other, but unless God has given you the peace to go in a certain direction, stay right where He has you! “For a day in His courts is better than a thousand elsewhere” (Psalm 84:10) — being in HIS WILL is sooo much better than being anywhere else!!

So you may be at a place in life where you’re in a seriously pressing situation and want to quickly do something in yourself, but I implore you to seek God and wait on Him! Or you may not have peace about a career choice or a certain relationship that you’re about to get into. There’s a reason why you don’t have peace. Isaiah 9:6 says that Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace, so unless He’s involved in that situation and it’s done HIS way, you WILL NOT have peace. “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He will strengthen thine heart; wait, I say, on the Lord” (Psalm 27:14 KJV).

Your motivation for wanting to wait on God regarding life’s major and minor decisions should be simply because you love Him. God can answer and fix in two seconds what would take you months to figure out. Trust Him. 🙂