READ: Acts 9:36-43
“I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.” – Psalm 119:60
Delay often means cancellation. Anything that is not done at the right time may never be done. The Lord taught me this lesson.
Once, I was supposed to make a trip from London to New York, via Amsterdam to minister. I missed the check-in time by about twenty minutes and had to take the next flight to Amsterdam. There, I confidently boarded my connecting flight. Then came the announcement that there was ice on the engine. After the ice problem was solved, a new problem arose introducing even further delay . It took another two hours before we were finally ready to take off. I sat in anguish as the minutes went by and eventually , I had to accept that the programme would be cancelled because I would not make it in time. I reflected over how the twenty-minute delay in London had cancelled my entire programme. It was then that the Lord spoke to me. He showed me that He had allowed me to have that experience so that I would learn how delay in doing His will sometimes leads to our never doing it.
Many who intend to obey God will never end up obeying Him because they put the wrong things first. Their marriage, their MBA’s, and their five-year trip abroad, all come before obedience to the Lord. Obedience to God, which is the second thing, never materializes. I have watched with sadness as people who should have been full-time in the ministry postponed it until after they had accomplished certain things. Unfortunately , that delay permanently closed that opportunity for them. What has God asked you to do?