The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance. —2 Peter 3:9
All the pieces to my plastic P-51 Mustang model were spread out on the newspaper in front of me. I was meticulously putting each piece of the airplane together in the proper order. But for some reason, two pieces weren’t fitting together properly. I double-checked the instructions and then looked at the little numbers stamped on the backsides of the pieces. I was sure they were correct, but they still didn’t snap together like they were supposed to.
At that moment, my dad walked through the kitchen. He saw me straining to get these two plastic pieces to fit. He stopped to watch me, the veins in my neck bulging and my tongue sticking out of the corner of my mouth. And then my dad said something I have never forgotten. What he told me that day has had a profound influence on nearly every dimension of my life since. “Hey, son,” my dad said calmly, “if it doesn’t fit, don’t force it.” Then this wise man turned and walked away.
I am a hard-driving, entrepreneurial, task-oriented, and focused man. I have lived my life on an overcommitted fast track, hustling where I lacked skill and talking when I had nothing to say. I have prided myself at being a perfectionist, and I wake up every morning on time without an alarm clock and have done this all my life.
My dad had no idea how important his words were that day. He couldn’t have known that his son would have grown up pushing and clawing and scratching, night and day. Unless these were prophetic words—and maybe they were—I needed to hear this when I was building a plastic Revell® model on the kitchen table, and I need to hear it now. “Hey, son, if it doesn’t fit, don’t force it.”
Did you know that God is not in a hurry? He knows exactly who He is and what He’s doing. He has not overcommitted His time. Frenzy and chaos are not His companions. “The Lord does not delay his promise . . . but is patient with you,” the apostle Peter stated (v. 9).
This concept runs counter to my chemistry. “But think of all the good I can do if I sign up for everything,” I rationalize. “Think of all the help I can be to God if I’m living at high speed. After all, isn’t God better served by industrious men—husbands and dads who want nothing less than an Academy Award for their tireless efforts?”
No, he isn’t. God isn’t frantically looking for volunteers to do His work. He’s not wringing His hands, hoping I do what He cannot do without me. My task as His disciple is clear: “Make every effort to be found without spot or blemish in his sight, at peace” (v. 14). Then I need to stop racing and rest in Jesus.
Slow down. God is better served by a man who isn’t moving so fast that he can’t afford the time to rest and listen. I know you’ve got lots to do. So do I. But look at us. The veins in our necks are bulging. Our tongues are sticking out with the strain.
“Hey, son,” our precious and patient heavenly Father is saying to us. “I have this situation under control. Don’t force it.”