Don't Walk Away Too Soon

Those who hope in me will not be disappointed. - Isaiah 49:23

On the fourth and final night of our weekend beach getaway, my friends and I decided to stay sitting by the ocean until the sun went down. The sunset from the night before had been nothing short of gorgeous, so we figured we’d go for round two as we lingered by the water late into the evening. 

About 15 minutes before the sun was supposed to dip below the horizon, there seemed to be a barrier of clouds right below the sun. In other words, the sunset looked like it was going to be cut short because it was going to go behind the clouds before it officially set.

While we stood in the sand with the waves crashing over our feet, my friend Lindsay sighed and said, “Welp, this looks like it’s going to be a disappointment.” All signs pointed to Lindsay being right about that. Everyone knows the last few minutes before the sunset are always the prettiest. But if the sun was going to be covered by clouds during its final descent, there was no way the sunset was going to be as pretty as it had been the night before.

But that’s where we were wrong. 

Over the course of the next half hour, not only did the clouds start to separate, but they turned a million shades of orange, yellow, pink, and purple. The sky just kept getting more and more beautiful the more time passed. We all agreed it was a much better sunset than the night before. And we would have completely missed out on it if we had walked away when we thought there was nothing left to see.

I wonder how many times in my life I’ve walked away too soon, missing out on something beautiful that the Lord had in store for me. So often, our days don’t turn out the way we expect them to, or our circumstances don't look the way we think they should. And when that happens, we are tempted to give up, thinking that there’s no way things can turn out the way we hoped, much less better than we hoped. 

But when we give into this temptation, when we give up too quickly, when we grow impatient and choose to stop waiting on God’s best, we miss out. We miss out on the beautiful, surprising, jaw-dropping, and smile-inducing gifts He wants to give us, like that sunset on the beach that night. 

So if you’re in a season of waiting, if you’re starting to grow impatient, or if you’re ready to give up, let this be an encouragement to you. Don’t throw in the towel just yet, friend. Don’t stop waiting for what it is you really want. Don’t walk away too soon. You never know what God has in store for you. Choose to trust Him, even in the waiting. You won’t regret it.