You Can’t Hurry God
- Dr. Dorie McKnight
- Sep 19
- 2 min read
There is an old song that we used to sing in Church called ‘You Can’t Hurry God.’ The last line of this Hymn says, “He may not come when you want Him, but He’s right on time.”
I have often wondered how God is on time if He comes whenever He wants to. What about the Scripture that says, “Before you call, I will answer?” There was another song I liked better called, ‘Step in Jesus and Rescue Me!’ This song was probably what the three Hebrew boys were singing as King Nebuchadnezzar’s men heated up the furnace to throw them in, for refusing to bow down at his command.
For all of us there will be days when we have to know our God, even when we can’t see or feel Him. We must be willing to go all out for what we believe in, whether it’s a physical death, or just letting go of relationships, because we have decided to take a stand.
In the story of the three Hebrew boys, God’s timing may have seemed off, but it turned out that He was already waiting in the fire to catch them! The three Hebrew boys responded in faith. They said, "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.” (Daniel 3:17)
God will not move in fear, but in faith. Our lack of faith can inflame our fears as the fire heats up in our life. In Hosea 7:8, the Prophet Hosea makes reference to an unturned (half-baked) cake. Waiting on God can sometimes be like baking a cake. There is a set time for the cake to be done. When you cook a cake, the temperature must be set at a certain degree. If you take the cake out too early, it will fall and never rise again. If you cook it too fast, it will look done on the outside, but not on the inside. No one enjoys uncooked or half-done food. Even if you think it’s done, the Master Chef has the final say. The cake isn’t done until it can spring back from the pressure of the cook’s fingertips.
Can you spring back from the ‘light afflictions’ God puts you under? He promised not to put more on you than you can bear. We have to stay in the fire, which can be the oven of opposition, until God knows we are ready to be served to the world. It may be hot but sometimes you have to stay in the fire until He says, "IT IS FINISHED.” He was, and is, our example.
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