Timing - Trusting God

Waiting can be one of the hardest parts of our walk with Christ. In this episode of Running Our Race, we explore what it means to trust God's timing instead of our own. Through Ecclesiastes 3, we're reminded that God has appointed a season for everything and invites us to find joy and purpose in the season we're in. We also look at Ecclesiastes 11:9–10, 2 Corinthians 7:1, and 2 Timothy 2:22, discovering that waiting isn't passive, it's a time to pursue holiness, flee youthful passions, and grow into the person God is preparing us to be.

Whether you're waiting for an answer, a breakthrough, or clarity for what's next, this episode encourages you to trust that God's timing is never late and His plans are always worth the wait.

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven." — Ecclesiastes 3:1

Transcript

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Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Running Our Race. Today I titled it Timing Flush, Trusting God. Just gonna start off in Ecclesiastes. Some of y'all may know, uh Ecclesiastes is a book that touches a lot on timing, and this verse it's like that. So in 3-1, it says, For everything there's a season and a time for every matter under heaven. I know a lot of times in a race, people like to compare uh other people's timing versus theirs. But the truth is that we're all running our own race, and just because someone else is in college and you're not doesn't mean that you are any behind. Maybe that's not what God has for you. That was very important, you're not a thing for me to understand because there's been a few points in my life where I felt we could say behind, and I know that that's a common feeling, especially for people in my age range. Another verse that I had is in the same chapter uh three, but we go down to twelve verses twelve to thirteen, and it says, I perceive that there is nothing better for them to be joyful and to do good as long as they live. Also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil. This is God's gift to man. What I just got out of kind of tying into another episode that I had made was a finding joy of the race, and in in that episode I didn't touch this verse, but this honestly would have been a really good verse. Um, and it's to be joyful and do good. You know, n doesn't matter what happens, you know, like just keep going, be joyful, and you know, try to make the best of it because this is the life that you're living. It also says, Take pleasure in your toil because it's God's gift to man. So it's like I know a lot of people they like to be like, Oh no, you need to save your money and you need to, you know, do this and that. And yes, you should because that's also biblical, but you know, don't forget to take pleasure in your toil. Like, say you've been working overtime and you manage to get all your goals uh checked off, but then you know, this thing that has been sitting in your cart for a long time, or an idea or something, you know, that you've been wanting to do, you know, take the time to enjoy that time and like actually do something that you like by being joyful and rejoicing and and taking pleasure in your toil, you know, you are also not focused on other people's timing, but you're enjoying, you're living in the moment, but also, you know, still thanking God for it. Because we know that you know everything comes from God, so when we know that and we thank God for it, we're less likely to take it for granted. Another verse that I wanted to touch on in Ecclesiastes again, uh, but in chapter 11, and this is gonna be verse 9 to 10. And it says, Rejoice, young man, in your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant in the days of your young manhood, young manhood, and walk in the ways of your heart and in the desires of your eyes, but know that God will bring you into judgment for all these things. Therefore, remove sorrow and anger from your heart and put away pain from your body, for childhood and the prime of life are fleeting. And then this specific version is the Amplified Bible, and it has uh two verses in the little brackets, I think. To me, when I read this verse, I honestly I was a little hard because you know, a lot of people say, you know, when you're young, you know, just do whatever you can repent later, or you basically make up fair later, right? Hit me hard more because unfortunately, every time I've looked on the news, I've seen at least one person around my age dying, and unfortunately, we don't know what they were doing, we don't know what their lifestyle was at the time, and it makes me sad because it's like, okay, like we don't know if you knew Christ and you ever got the opportunity to do so. And here it says, you know what, you're gonna receive judgment for all the things that you did, but it also is a reminder to ourselves, you know. A lot of times people will be like, Oh no, it's just one drink, it's just one thing, but we don't know what that one drink or that one thing can open doors to, just tying it back to as well. I like how this verse also touches on removing sorrow and anger from our heart. It's not gonna be every day that we have the opportunity to live in this prime, we could say, right? So, like to the young people out there, we have to make the most of every day. So, right now is a time when all of us should be locking in with God. Um, because we don't know what kind of responsibilities we're gonna be facing when we're older. Before I touch into the two verses that are in the brackets, I'm gonna read it in another version, and it's uh the International Children's Bible. People enjoy yourselves while you are young, be happy while you are young, do whatever your heart desires, do whatever you want to do, but remember that God will judge you for everything you do. So avoid sorrow and sadness, forget about all the bad things that happen to you. This is because the joys of youth pass quickly away. Sometimes we're faced with responsibilities, and that just it changes our whole dynamic. And right there it says it, you know, the joys of youth pass away quickly. Forget about all the bad things that happen to you. You know, a lot of things that seem like the end of the world to us as young people, you know, at the end of the day, it's it's really um it's really not that deep. I think we dwell on things too much and we think that it's in the world because this person doesn't want to be our friends anymore, or um, you know, say I crushed, didn't talk to us, didn't text us back, you know, they left us on red, whatever. Right? As a as a younger person, you know, maybe that affected me. But now, like being a little older, like now it's just like, oh, you know, it wasn't it wasn't God's timing. It just, you know, it was the time, the time came, the time went away. Into those verses that were in brackets. Uh the first one was 2 Corinthians 7 1, and it says, Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bring holiness to completion in the fear of God. This first one, I feel like it ties into the to Ecclesiastes verse because of that, cleanse yourself from every defilement. So in the other verse, it was talking a lot about how we can do whatever right, but it's not necessarily good for us because eventually we're gonna face judgment for it. Just because we can do it doesn't mean we should do it, you know. Um, like let's say, for example, a lot of people have that debate, you know, uh, don't have uh sex before marriage. Just because we can do it, because the other verse says, you know, do whatever you want, doesn't mean we should do it, because at the end of the day, that is a form of defilement and we're supposed to be clean. So we need to enter into marriage clean, right? Part of that is also being ready at any moment because we never know when Jesus is gonna come back. The other verse I wanted to read 2 Timothy 2 22. So it says, So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with all those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. This verse it also reminds me of another verse uh talking about how we're supposed to I believe the verse says holiness and peace. We're supposed to have that. Um, it doesn't necessarily go with being a youth young person, but it's as a general to the body of Christ. But in this verse, Second Timothy, um, it really just causes to flee. Uh youthful passions. Because eventually, you know what? Those passions are gonna be put towards a marriage. You know, maybe not at the timing that you want, but it'll eventually be at a timing that's correct. Just ending it off here. All these verses to me, they're they tie into trusting God in timing because a lot of times, unfortunately, those passions that were referred to uh in some of these verses, they unfortunately get the best of people. And I've seen it in a lot of people. We often see, you know, passions get the best of us, you know, even uh we could say anger as being a passion. Some people are very passionate about being angry and seeking the opposite of peace, right? You want to avenge yourselves as well, you know, like that we are not following the timing of God. I would encourage y'all, you know, trust God's timing, but also those little emotional things, also trust God with those emotional things. Some things, you know, it's just that it's not God's timing. We need to kind of brush them off, you know, and keep moving forward and focusing on what's really important, and that's trusting God through it all. Uh something that, you know, at some time is, you know, it's not gonna be perfect, but as long as you keep keeping your faith close to you and just continuing forward, you know, eventually things will make sense and God will reveal it to you on why things happen this the way that they did. With that being said, thank you for tuning in to another episode and uh I hope to catch y'all on the next one.