At a marriage ceremony in Galilee, by the prompting of His Mother, Jesus said something very noteworthy in John 2:4:
“mine hour is not yet come…”
In fact the book of Ecclesiastes captures the essence of time very appropriately in chapter 3. There’s a time for everything under the sun. There is a time to go through afflictions and a time to triumph. There’s a time to sorrow and a time to shout for joy. There’s a time to be taught and a time to teach others. There is a time to borrow and a time to lend to others. Destiny has an appointed time. There is a time to travail for your destiny and a time to ascend the throne of your glory. Until the time is ripe, you may not be able to walk into your destiny even though you fought so hard for it. God makes everything beautiful in His own time. It is also important to note that, though destiny has an appointed time, you will not automatically accomplish your destiny if you don’t give the right focus and commitment it deserves. So you can’t just casually wait over time to walk into your destiny.
When God showed Joseph his destiny, He did not tell him when he would ascend the throne of his glory. At 17 Joseph was probably unprepared to shoulder the responsibilities of leadership that would have come with that exalted office. At the same time, staying put in his father’s house would have been a sure way to kill his destiny. God therefore allowed the chains of events to unfold so that, one, he could be “toughened up” for the tasks ahead, two, so that he could get to the location of his destiny, and, three, so that the appointed time could come. It took 13 years for the time to become “mature” for his assignment. In fact anytime before then would have been a recipe for disaster.
Sometimes we wonder why Pharaoh’s Cupbearer forgot Joseph for two years. Because the appointed time had not yet come! God showed up at the exact and appropriate time for Joseph, not one second less or more. He is never late. That is why we called Him the God of the Eleventh Hour. If you are conscious of your destiny and are serious about it, when the time comes you will naturally walk into it. But if you are the type that treats his destiny with reckless abandon, the time may come and pass and you will still be at a loss what to do with your life.
When sometimes you have done all you can and answers do not come, take a deep breath and put your burdens on God and wait. Probably the appointed time has not yet come. The key is to do all you have to do as if the time is now because you can never know for certain when the appropriate time for your destiny will come.