Is Jesus really making all things new? Is He really working for the good of those who love Him? Are we really inseparable from His grace, love, mercy, forgiveness, and salvation? Have we really all received one blessing after another from the fullness of His grace? These are the clear promises of Scriptures, but we all have times when doubt creeps in – for a short while or for a season – because they’re not happening now. We feel forgotten. We are hardly the first to feel this way.

Moses spent 40 clueless years in the wilderness and 40 more years of consternation leading a rebellious people. A bewildered David was on the run from Saul’s spear for 13 years and then ruled a split nation for another seven years. Joseph was wickedly separated from his father for 22 years.

Every story in the Bible is preserved to give us a picture of how God operates and to change our perspective. We operate in “earth time.” God operates in “Bible time.” “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” (2 Peter 3:8).

So why is God doing this? Why is there a delay in your life? The answer is, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (two Peter 3:8). You and I are part of the plan. Just because we can’t see, or understand, what is happening behind the veil doesn’t mean it’s not happening.

God is sovereignly orchestrating all human events to bring us into right relationship with Him and right relationship with each other. Remember that when you feel like God has forgotten you. He hasn’t. Instead, he is using you to bring about His glory.