Let the paint dry: Waiting on God's perfect timing

By Darla Butterfield April 3rd, 2025

“Mom, I want the paint to dry faster! Why won’t it hurry up and dry? It’s taking forever!”

My six-year-old son was working hard on his pinewood derby car for the upcoming race at church. He was desperate for the paint to dry so he could move on to his final decorations. He watched as his sister’s car was already dry and ready for decals and he did not want to wait a moment longer. Before I knew it, his paint was smudged in his lack of patience. His pleas turned to tears as we worked to fix the smears in the paint.

As his cries intensified, God’s gentle voice pierced my heart. How often do I sound just like my son? I don’t want to wait for the Lord’s perfect timing, and I may find myself smudging the paint of the masterpiece God is working on in my life. I look around and see how God is showing up in other people’s lives and I wonder why is He taking so long in my life? I want the paint to dry faster, too.

In those hard seasons of waiting, I’ve learned that I can cry out to God with my heartache. He’s big enough to handle my honesty in my pain. I can relate to the Psalmist’s emotions reflected in Psalm 130:1-2 “Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.”

Just as my son expressed how he felt when he thought the paint was taking forever to dry, I often feel that way when I don’t know how long I’ll be waiting to see God show up in a situation. Psalm 130:5-6 captures that feeling while also providing hope: “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.”

God has given us an incredible resource in His Word to find our hope during those difficult seasons of waiting. As we spend time reading the Bible, we grow in our understanding of the faithfulness of God and that we can trust Him to paint His plans on the canvas of our lives. When we feel like we’ve smudged the paint, He’s gracious enough to remind us that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him.” (Romans 8:28)

When we put our hope in the Lord, we see our God for who He really is. While Psalm 130 begins with tears of lament, it ends with the Psalmist’s eyes on God. “Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.” (Psalm 130: 7-8) We serve a faithful God whose love never ends. He is our redeemer and hope!

Once my son’s tears dried, along with the paint on his car, he carefully finished the decals and assembled the wheels. He held up his finished project with a smile on his face and exclaimed, “It’s perfect!”

As I looked at the joy in my son’s eyes, I heard that gentle whisper again in my heart. God reminded me of Ecclesiastes 3:11, “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” It’s in God’s time, not mine that He makes everything beautiful. God is working in the waiting, making an exquisite masterpiece. I need to let the paint dry and one day I’ll look back and see what He was doing all along. I may even exclaim, just like my son did, “It’s perfect!”