Yup, we say it, feel it and live like it. Those times when life seems bleak, situations seem impossible, prayers seem to go unanswered for a long time and we conclude, “Time’s up!” I have waited and waited but apparently God is not going to do this or that. Or, I have given this ample time (in our time frame) so, God must be saying “no.”

But what if the truth was God wanted to stretch you and your faith a little (to us, “A LOT”).

What if God wanted to set the stage of impossibility and improbability up because that is where He does His best work? What if God’s delays were not at all denials but a means to teach us to trust and obey? What if God was just working in His timing instead of ours to put all the pieces in place so when He did what He is going to do, He would receive immediate and ultimate glory for what is done? What if? What if rather than doubting, we determined to keep trusting until the day we could say like Elizabeth (The elder, former barren all her life, stigmatized, mother of John the Baptizer) when she became pregnant late in life with a gift of God’s deliverance: “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.” (Luke 1:25)

What if that’s really what God wants to do for you and asking you to be patient, believing with God nothing is impossible?

What if time’s not really up just yet?

Dr. William Burnham is pastor of Point of Grace Church in Covington. He can be reached at burnhamw@charter.net.