Speaker: Darlene Sala | Series: Encouraging Words | Have you ever dreamed that you were trying to run in your sleep? Isn’t it frustrating? Try as you will, you can make very little progress. And if you are trying to run from some danger, the dream turns into a nightmare.

In life even when we’re fully awake, we have times when no matter how hard we try, we can’t seem to make much progress to where we want to go. Either we don’t have the strength to reach our goal, or the obstacles are too great along the way for us get there quickly.

Oscar S. Oblefias wrote the following words of encouragement: “In life, some may walk, others may run, but the Lord ensured that the tortoise and the snail reached Noah’s Ark before the flood.”[i] The tortoise and the snail are two of God’s slowest moving creatures. But God took that into consideration and allowed enough time for them to get on board the Ark before the rains came and flooded the earth.

Yes, sometimes we wish we could hurry up the timing in our lives. We get depressed by how long it takes to reach our goal.  But if life is moving slower than you’d like, the good news is that the timing is not random: it’s in God’s control. Psalm 31 says, “My times are in Your hand” (v.15 NKJV). Though I may not always like God’s timing, I find reassurance in the fact that He knows the end from the beginning and makes no mistakes. So, I can rest in Him.

Be encouraged. Your journey may be rough and tough—and s-l-o-w, but you will definitely get to your destination in God’s time. As my husband says, “God is seldom early. But He is never late.” He is always right on time.

[i] Oscar S. Oblefias, used by permission 9-13-2019.