The two must difficult elements of trusting God are, doing what is right and then waiting for God to act. You want to trust God financially so you decide to do what’s right expecting immediate results but your bills remain the same and so does your income. Maybe you built up the courage to apologize to someone expecting that after you did so things would get better, but nothing changed or perhaps they got worse. It’s important to know that when you decide to trust God it’s not enough to do what’s right; you also have to wait for God to act. That can be the most difficult part of trusting, waiting for God to act after you took the difficult step to do what is right.

In the book of 1 Samuel chapter 13 the Philistines had mustered a mighty army against Israel and their king Saul. The Philistine army was so mighty that the Bible says the number of warriors were as numerous as grains of sand on the seashore. Upon seeing this, king Saul and his men were trembling with fear and his troops began to slip away.

King Saul dared not to go to war with the Philistines because the Prophet Samuel had instructed him to wait up to seven days so that he (Samuel) could present a burnt offering to God before going to war. Day one came and went and no sign of the Prophet Samuel. Day two came and went and no sign of Samuel. Day three, four, five and six the same, no sign of Samuel anywhere. King Saul was growing impatient and his troops were slipping away at an alarming rate.

Day seven arrived with no sign of Samuel so Saul decided he couldn’t wait any more. So he demanded, “Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings!” and he presented the sacrifice to God Himself. As soon as he finished presenting the offering guess who showed up? You got it, the prophet Samuel. Saul came out to welcome him but Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul answered, “I saw my troops slipping away, and you didn’t arrive when you said, and I saw that the Philistines were ready to attack. So, I felt compelled to ask for God’s help. “What a fool” was Samuel’s answer to King Saul.

The prophet Samuel went on to tell King Saul, “Had you kept Gods command, He would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. Now your kingdom is coming to an end and your replacement has already been appointed”. Yes it was the seventh day, but the day still hadn’t ended. Yes things were looking terribly bad, but God was still in control.

Eventually King Saul went to war and God gave Him a great victory over the Philistines, but because he did not wait, because he did not trust the Lord, he won the war but lost the kingdom. King Saul did what you and I often do when we are waiting for God to act. He looked at his circumstances and decided to take matters into his own hands. He decided that God couldn’t be trusted.

Psalms 37: 3 & 7 NLT

Trust in the Lord and do good.
Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act.

It’s simple, when trusting God there is always more to lose than there is to gain for not waiting.

Heavenly Father, save me from jumping the gun and not waiting for you to act. Your timing is perfect and I trust that no matter what I see or don’t see, you’re at work and you’re never late.