‘For a long time I have kept silent,
    I have been quiet and held myself back.
But now…’

It may be that you find yourself caught in a delay. It can feel frustrating, I know. But although it may be stating the obvious, it needs to be said (and understood) that God’s timing is perfect.

Last year, on 21st November, I recorded this extract, from ‘The growth of a work of God’ (the story of missionary Hudson Taylor) in my journal:

‘Delays and difficulties explained themselves, and how thankful Mr. Taylor felt for the restraining Hand that had kept him from leaving England previously…He had found himself at last, found life’s best and deepest, not in the way of his own choosing, but in the ”good works which God had before ordained” that he should walk in them…

It rather took Mr. Taylor’s breath at first! But it had come about entirely apart from his seeking, and in such a way as to leave no doubt that the one who had led him to settle in East London was opening to him also the drawing-rooms of the West.’

Taylor had experienced challenging delays to his plan to return to China, but then he found doors open to be able to inform influential people about the Chinese mission, and he garnered remarkable support.

God’s view is higher and broader and deeper than ours. He sees further, and He knows what He is doing, even when we don’t. It goes without saying that He is worthy of our fullest confidence.