God’s timing in the Bible: why he waits and how to wait

Q: What is the difference between “chronos” and “kairos”?

Chronos is time as it passes; kairos is the opportune moment appointed by God. Mark 1:15 says “the time is fulfilled” in this second sense.

God’s timing is the moment he has set to fulfil his promises: not before, and not after. The Bible teaches that God is never late, although he often does not come when we want him to. His clock is not measured by our impatience, but by his wisdom and his love. Ecclesiastes sums it up like this:

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1 (KJV)

This article explains what “God’s timing” means, why God sometimes seems to delay, what Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, Lazarus and Simeon teach us, how to wait well and which things should not wait. There is a prayer at the end.

What is God’s timing?

The New Testament uses two Greek words for time. Chronos is time as it passes: hours, days, years. Kairos is the opportune moment, the appointed hour when something is meant to happen. When Jesus began to preach he said: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15). He was not speaking of a date on the calendar, but of a ripe moment, prepared by God over centuries.

Paul says the same about the coming of Christ:

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.”
Galatians 4:4 (KJV)

God waited thousands of years to send his Son, but he was not late: he came in “the fulness of the time”. That is how he works in our lives too. God’s timing is his kairos for each thing.

A time for everything

Ecclesiastes lists opposite seasons: “A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted… A time to weep, and a time to laugh” (Ecclesiastes 3:2, 4). Life is not a straight line of successes. It has seasons. And it adds a precious sentence: “He hath made every thing beautiful in his time” (3:11). What seems senseless today will show its beauty in due course.

David said it confidently in the middle of persecution: “My times are in thy hand” (Psalm 31:15). Not in the hands of my enemies, nor of chance, nor of my mistakes: in the hand of God.

With the Lord a thousand years are as one day

“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
2 Peter 3:8-9 (KJV)

Peter was writing to Christians who were being mocked because Christ had not returned. His answer has two parts. First, God does not experience time as we do: what feels endless to us is brief to him. Second, what we call delay is often patience: God waits because he wants more people to come to repentance. His delay is mercy.

Why God is never in a hurry

The Bible shows several reasons why God makes us wait:

To shape us. Waiting reveals what is in the heart and purifies it. “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise” (Hebrews 10:36).
To prepare everything. God is not only working in you; he is also arranging people, places and circumstances you cannot see.
To show his glory. When the answer comes “late”, no one can put it down to human strength.
For love of others. As in 2 Peter 3:9, God sometimes waits for those who have not yet turned back to him.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 55:8). Jesus said to Peter: “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter” (John 13:7).

Bible stories about God’s timing

Abraham and Sarah: not running ahead

God promised Abraham descendants like the stars, “And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). But the years went by, and Sarah proposed a human solution: that Abraham should have a child with her maid Hagar (16:2). That haste gave rise to conflicts that lasted for generations. In the end, “Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him” (21:2). The promise was fulfilled at his hour, not ours.

Joseph: two more years in prison

Joseph interpreted the cupbearer’s dream and asked him to remember him. The cupbearer forgot. “At the end of two full years”, Pharaoh had a dream (Genesis 41:1), and then Joseph came out of prison to govern Egypt. The psalm says: “Until the time that his word came: the word of the Lord tried him” (Psalm 105:19). Those two years were not God forgetting him, but God preparing him.

Moses and David: forty years and a late crown

Moses tried to free his people his own way and had to flee. He spent forty years in the wilderness tending sheep, and “when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord” (Acts 7:30). David was anointed king as a boy, but spent years running from Saul. “David was thirty years old when he began to reign” (2 Samuel 5:4).

Lazarus: when Jesus comes “too late”

When Jesus was told that his friend was ill, “he abode two days still in the same place where he was” (John 11:6). Lazarus died. Martha said to him in her grief: “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died” (11:21). But Jesus was not too late for what he was about to do: “Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?” (11:40). And he raised him.

Simeon: a lifetime of waiting

Simeon, a righteous old man, had received from the Holy Spirit the promise that he would not die before seeing the Messiah. He waited for years. When he took the child Jesus in his arms, he said: “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation” (Luke 2:29-30).

When God seems slow

The Bible does not hide the anguish of waiting. “How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever?” (Psalm 13:1). “O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear!” (Habakkuk 1:2). You can say the same to God. He is not offended by honest prayer.

The answer Habakkuk received is still for us:

“For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”
Habakkuk 2:3 (KJV)

“Though it tarry, wait for it.” What God has promised has an appointed time. It may seem slow, but it will not fail.

How to wait for God’s timing

Waiting on God is not sitting idle or giving up. It is an active waiting:

Pray honestly. “I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry” (Psalm 40:1).
Keep doing good. “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9).
Do not force the door. Abraham’s haste brought pain. What is pulled up before its time does not bear good fruit.
Humble yourself. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time” (1 Peter 5:6).
Silence the bitter complaint. “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him” (Psalm 37:7). “It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord” (Lamentations 3:26).
Get ready. Joseph was shaped in prison; David, in the fields. Use the waiting to grow.
Remember his promises. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31).

Waiting on God does not mean failing to seek help when it is needed either: a doctor, a counsellor, the authorities in the face of abuse. God also works through those means. Read God, never let me go and What the Bible says about tribulations.

What should not wait

There are things for which God’s time is today. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Returning to God, asking forgiveness, being reconciled, leaving a sin behind: these are not to be put off. “See then that ye walk circumspectly… Redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16). And Moses prayed: “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).

The return of Christ is also in God’s timing: “of that day and hour knoweth no man” (Matthew 24:36). That is why we live awake and at peace. If you have drifted away, read Coming back to Christ.

Frequently asked questions

What does “God’s timing is perfect” mean? That God fulfils what he promises at the wisest and most loving moment, even if it does not match the one we would choose. Those exact words are not in the Bible, but they sum up passages such as Ecclesiastes 3:11, Galatians 4:4 and Habakkuk 2:3.

Where does the Bible say there is a time for everything? In Ecclesiastes 3:1-8: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

What is the difference between “chronos” and “kairos”? Chronos is time as it passes; kairos is the opportune moment appointed by God. Mark 1:15 says “the time is fulfilled” in this second sense.

Why is God slow to answer my prayer? The Bible gives several reasons: to shape our character, to prepare the circumstances, to show his glory or to be patient with others (2 Peter 3:9). Sometimes the answer is “wait”, and sometimes it is “no”, because he sees further than we do.

How can I know whether something is God’s timing? Seek his will in Scripture and prayer, ask mature believers for advice, notice whether doors open without being forced and whether there is peace in your heart (Colossians 3:15). Nothing that contradicts his Word will ever be God’s timing.

Prayer

Eternal Father, my times are in your hand. You know what I have been waiting for so long, the promises I have not yet seen fulfilled and the nights when I have asked: how long? Forgive me for the times I wanted to run ahead and force the doors, and for the distrust that crept into my soul. Today I choose to believe that you are never late. Come, Holy Spirit, and teach me to wait: give me patience that is not mere resignation, faith that does not grow weary and peace while the answer tarries. Use me while I wait, shape me as you shaped Joseph in prison and David in the fields. Open my eyes to see what you are doing even when I do not yet understand it. And let me not leave for tomorrow what belongs to today: coming back to you, forgiving, loving. You make everything beautiful in its time; I trust your clock and your heart. In the name of Jesus. Amen.