There is no need to hurry in ministry. Ultimately our hurried demeanor is not beneficial to our own well-being, nor those to whom we minister. I am increasingly convinced amidst this journey toward seeing God use us to plant the gospel and establish a newly formed church from all these efforts, His and ours. However, there is nothing to be gained by hurrying in all this. Let me state though that there is no part of me that for a moment believes in being slothful amidst intentional ministry and church planting efforts. That is not at all what I am talking about.
Often times our own hurriedness is nothing more than our own insecurities birthing an unrealistic and unnecessary urgency. We somehow assume that the faster we are "established" the more validated our calling actually is. I feel immensely bad for the Apostle Paul then, if indeed this is the standard. He took considerable time to do nothing that he even felt burdened to share in the extended time before his ministry began (Gal. 1:15-18). We might even think that Paul would have benefited more people, advanced the gospel further by taking less time on vacation in Arabia. Yet, somehow we are o.k. with Paul taking such years to grow apart from such hands-on ministry, but the standard for us is different.
And consider Jesus: His "established" and noteworthy ministry consumed the last three years of His life. If I didn't know any better I might assume Jesus really didn't care about the sick. I might assume Jesus really didn't care about the poor. I might assume that Jesus really didn't care much about sin. I might even assume that Jesus didn't care about the eternal souls of men, women, boys, and girls during those first thirty years of His life. But nothing could be further from the truth.
Increasingly it is my understanding of God's sovereign rule that encourages me to believe He is in no hurry. A few things I have had to reflect on lately that encourage me as such.
First of all, consider creation. God spent six days (whether literal or figurative I do not know) to complete creation. Why six days? Was there something He needed to learn? No. Was there more time He needed to create what He did? No. Was there some limiting factor in His way that only time might remove? No. He could have done it all in one moment, with one word, or with no words. He could have just thought it all into existence. But He took six days because He wanted to do it that way, and in doing so He shows us that He was in no big hurry. And after that He rested, even though His creation was not without an ultimate purpose.
Secondly, with stories like that of Paul, God indeed had phenomenal purpose behind the season before Paul was so visible. We don't have to know what that was. Surely though there was some character development, some skills that were developed. Likely some relationships that were being built. Further examples throughout Scripture would equally indicate there are seasons of less visibility and as we see it (less) effective ministry, even after seasons of immense ministry and fruitful ministry. In all this, God has a purpose and a plan. We'd do well to hold loosely to our purposes, plans, and thoughts on what and when it is to be "established."
Thirdly, God has a plan, but that plan is for an appointed time. Look at Jesus for a moment. Since the time of Moses, some 1500 years passed before Christ came on the scene. From the time of David, some 1000 years passed before Christ came on the scene. From the time of Isaiah some 700 years passed before Christ came on the scene. In all of history there never was, nor will ever be another like Jesus. Only He ever was and ever is able to save sinners. And all throughout history mankind has been stricken with the fallen nature whose wickedness manifests itself in hopelessness, pain, and enmity with God. How obscure the message of forgiveness and grace if only ever through slaughtered lambs. How opaque the understanding of relationship with God if one needs to be proselytized to this Jewish faith. How obtuse hearers would be to belief in One who is to come. But when Jesus came He made sense of all the many things that were otherwise obscure, opaque, and obtuse. So why the wait God? Why so many years? Because God had a plan. A perfect plan. Because God's sovereignty rules over all time and history. And He will not for a moment lose one person who He has chosen to be saved. Hurrying is not in God's language. It is not in His plan. It is a human concept that has no place with the Sovereign.
Let these rich words convince you if still you think otherwise-
"...when we were children, [we] were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But WHEN THE FULLNESS OF TIME HAD COME, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." (emphasis mine)
There is ever purpose in all the seasons, in all our waiting, because the Sovereign Lord rules. Let us ever trust that the seasons in which we find ourselves are not so hurried that we forget God's sovereign rule in and over all things. He has a plan, let it run its full course. He has the power, so let Him show it in time. He has many things He is working out that run concurrent, and be amazed when you later on see the fuller picture of this and are able to marvel at Him all the more.
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