Waiting and Perfect Timing

Dave Harvey's book, called "Rescuing Ambition", is a really great book that I would highly recommend. I read it a while ago, and even wrote down some quotes that really stuck out to me. A lot of them have to do with waiting. That is, waiting for the things that we are hoping and praying for in our lives. These quotes were  really encouraging to me as I often struggle with being impatient about certain things that I want to happen in my life, or even worrying that they will never come to pass. I thought I would share the quotes (even more than I wrote down in my journal) here; maybe they can encourage some of you as well.

"How we live when ambitions are delayed significantly shapes who we become. God uses the wait to teach us to walk in a manner worthy of our calling. Wait isn't a popular word. We like it about as much as a toddler does But waiting is a tool God often uses. Scripture is full of waiting -- we're taught to wait for God to act (Ps. 25:3; 27:14; 37:7; 130:5; Isa. 49:23; Hos. 12:6), to wait for our adoption as sons (Rom. 8:23), to wait for the return of the Lord and his righteousness (1 Cor. 1:7; Gal. 5:5; Titus 2:13). We're to wait in faith, knowing that Isaiah's words are true: "From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him" (Isa. 64:4)...Yet waiting is a strange thing. God's purposes are not a bus stop where we just sit, waiting for the right option to come by. No, we keep walking while we wait, and we wait while we walk...Reach your hand into a river and grab a handful of rocks. You can tell the ones that have been recently deposited and those that have been there for a long time, waiting. The new arrivals are rough with edges and sharp points. The other rocks are smooth; time and water have worn away their rough exterior, revealing a polished, beautiful stone. For us waiting has the same effect.God purifies our ambitions by delaying their fulfillment. An ambition with a waiting sign is an ambition being smoothed in a riverbed of God's activity. The rough edges--the selfishness in our ambitions--become smooth. The ambition is purified. The dull exterior starts to shine" (p. 71-72).

"Perhaps in reading this you’re becoming aware of impatience toward God and his timing in your life. But is God’s timing not perfect? Are his ways not perfect? Is his will not perfect? Is his character not perfect? And hasn’t all this perfection been displayed for us in the cross? Who are we to question God in impatience when he has so perfectly displayed his love for us in the shedding of his Son’s blood on the cross?" (p. 73)