It was already quarter to twelve.

I was anxiously rushing around a supermarket I had never been to before, trying to find a gluten free, lactose free, low fat, cheap, eat-on-the-go lunch! 

My heart knew that it didn’t matter if I was late for a soft-play date, but my head was piling on the pressure: “You’re gonna be late, you’re gonna be late, you’re gonna be LATE!”

That was Sunday.

Since then I’ve had a week peppered with almost-late or later-than-I-said-I’d-be experiences. I even had a midweek dream about being late for a made up event.

At one point, I was sat in my car and I heard God:

“You are often early and so you expect me to be early. But I am always on time.”

Being on time is an art. I have a lot of friends that are usually late and a handful of friends who, like me, enjoy being early. But I don’t know many that are great at being bang on time, all of the time. 

Yet, God is.

Heknows that there will be traffic on the way to work, He knows when your boiler is going to break down and He knows when your babies will get sick. He knows the minute you’ll give birth and the second you’ll pass away. 

God is the only all-knowing one therefore the only one who has the power to actually be consistently on time.

And so today I have 3 questions to ask for when you think God is late.

Question 1:  Where have I given up?

I was reading my bible a couple of weekends ago and I found a story in 1 Kings 17.

It’s a story about a prophet (someone gifted to deliver a message from God to a certain people group.)

This prophet was called Elijah.

God told Elijah to tell a King, called Ahab, that there would be a long drought in his kingdom.

Here’s the message:

“As the Lord the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”

1 Kings 17: 1, NIV.

Elijah was then instructed by God to hide near a brook. 

This brook provided Elijah with water and God sent ravens carrying bread to feed our hungry prophet.

Interesting set up.

One day, the brook dries up…

Change of plan: God tells Elijah to go and seek a widow in the town of Zarephath – She will feed him from now on.

When the provision runs dry, there is another way.

Elijah finds this widow and here is what she says:

“As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

1 Kings 17: 12, NIV.

God has a plan: To feed Elijah through a widow’s generosity. Yet, this woman has another plan: She’s giving up. 

When I read her words above, I imagine anger and finality in her voice. She is not expecting God to show up. 

In her eyes: God so, so, SO late. He should have intervened sooner. Missed His chance, now.

I do this. 

Like our widow, I expect God to be early, because I like to be early. I expect Him to provide the answer before the problem gets too desperate. I, too, am annoyed when He’s not shown up on my timescale.

I wonder if you are?

I wonder if there’s been just one too many calamities in your life lately? You thought God would show up when that bad thing happened, but then another rubbish thing walked through the door and now there’s an illness to think about, on top of that grief, or that stress, or that relationship breakdown.

How bad is He going to let it get? How late is He going to be?

This woman had decided that God wasn’t going to show and, although she was quite open about the finality of things, I think it’s easy for us to silently stop believing. 

Along the line we just stop expecting.

God didn’t meet our expectations so we just let go of having any more expectations. We tell ourselves that it’s not a big deal. Maybe we ignore our hope-drop.

We need to ask ourselves: Where have we stopped believing? Where in our lives do we think that God is so, so SO late?

You can stop here and write down whatever it is that you’ve given up on. Being honest with God is always the first step.

Question 2: What do I have?

Our story reads:

Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’

1 Kings 17: 13 – 14.

God is on time. He saves our widow, when she needs saving. And he does so using what she has.

He fills her empty containers again, and again, and again… This is a new method of provision for Elijah, the woman and her son.

This is the thing about God: He gives us what we need when we need it. 

Perhaps, at this point in your life, you are experiencing some difficulty, you think God’s given up on your problem. 

I can assure you God has given you something to help you get through. 

So I invite you to ask another question: What is my empty container?

For me, my ability to write has helped me through many mental health challenges. 

Others might have a musical gift – to sing or play an instrument and praise God in the darkest of moments. Some of you reading this have time, or money or a gift to preach from the rooftops.

God will use these things that you have to get you through a really rough time. So think of what he’s already gifted you with and let Him fill that thing and meet you in the middle of it.

Question 3: Do we trust the method more than the maker?

Our widow uses her empty containers, until one day she faces a problem that requires another method of rescue…

Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”

1 Kings 17: 17 – 18, Niv.

Despite the fact God saved her once, beyond her own timescale, she doesn’t believe he can do it again. She’s back to thinking God is late. 

His opportunity has passed, her son is dead.

I wonder if she had grown accustomed to the provision ignoring the provider. 

Sometimes when the method of provision changes it can reveal what’s going on with our hearts. 

Do we really trust the method-maker, rather than the provision itself?

When change happens, you might just be in for a little heart-test. It might be time to check your trust and make sure it is firmly in God.

In the bible, God raises the widow’s son from death to life:

“Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!”

Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”

1 Kings 17 23 – 24, NIV.

This woman had a real problem with God’s timing. Yet God shows up in his grace, with his own timescales and He is ridiculously faithful to this woman with her tiny, angry faith.

He’s like that. 

God’s goodness shows this widow that He not only has a plan but He is the plan. Whatever God says is true, powerful and timely. 

So make sure you ask yourself: Are you believing in your plans rather than in Him? Are you confident in His faithfulness, even when you are angry and things look really, pretty rubbish?

Stop and check in with yourself, it could help you take a big step forward in one area today.

Final Thoughts…

I am often early. And so, I expert God to be early. But God is never early, or late. Instead He is the only one who could ever be right on time, all of the time. 

I don’t know what hard thing you are facing, but I do know that you can be honest with God about your disappointment. I do know you can believe for God to use what you have. I do believe that He is better than any plan, or expectation, I could ever make.

Stop and ask yourself the above questions, now. Slow your heart right down and be real before God.