If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done (Eccles 11:4 TLB).

    The ability to wait is a noble thing, without which life will be full of chaos. Imagine the disaster air traffic would be, if inbound flights were not put in a holding pattern, while the runway were cleared for safe landing. This is just one illustration out of many that can be given. Haste has driven a lot of people into avoidable errors and problems. The ability to wait therefore bespeaks understanding and patience. However, the inclination to wait, if taken beyond certain limits, becomes counterproductive and sometimes even disastrous. As long as we wait for the right reasons, we are safe. However, the scriptural text above shows us the wrong reasons for which to wait.
    Perfect conditions are usually appealing to us human beings. We want to be sure that all the i’s have been doted and all the t’s crossed before we make a move towards what we should do. It is a mistake, because people who wait for such conditions, as the Bible tells us, never get anything done. Remember, it is not because they do not want to get something done, but because they are waiting for the impossible. Though the Bible says, “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:” (Eccles 3:1), it does not imply that we should wait for perfect conditions, but for the right time or season.  It is a proper sense of timing—and not waiting for perfect conditions—that can make the difference between failure and success, defeat and victory, poverty and wealth etc.
    There is hardly anyone who has obeyed God, and satisfactorily completed his or her assignment, because the conditions were perfect. For instance, God instructed Elijah to change locations, with these words : “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” (1Ki 17:9). Therefore, he left the Brook Cherith, where God had used the Ravens to provide food for him. Elijah’s prompt response, ” So he arose and went to Zarephath. ..” (1Ki 17:10), may give the impression that the conditions were perfect, until you read further.
    “So she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”” (1KI 17:12). Was that some kind of joke? Had God not clearly said, “…I have commanded a widow there to provide for you?” Elijah may have had those thoughts, as he wondered at the widow’s response to his request for some food, in addition to the water for which he had earlier asked. It would not have been unusual, humanly speaking, if he had questioned the accuracy of the guidance he had received.
    The conditions were anything but perfect. One would have thought that God, who knows all things, would have sent Elijah to a wealthy widow, but no. Rather, God sent him to a widow, whose description of her own plight was pitiful. Natural conditions do not play a determinant role in whom God chooses to do His work. For, “The race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding, Nor favor to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all.” (Eccles 9:11). “So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” (Rom 9:11). When God’s mercy rests on a person, both time and chance favour him or her, irrespective of the conditions around him or her. Hence, Elijah’s response to the widow is instructive : “And Elijah said to her, “DO NOT FEAR; go and do as you have said, but MAKE ME A SMALL CAKE FROM IT FIRST, and bring it to me; and AFTERWARD MAKE SOME FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR SON.” (1Ki 17:13) (emphasis mine).
    DO NOT FEAR, the first thing Elijah said to widow, is usually what God tells us, when we are tempted to determine the possibility of obeying Him, by considering surrounding conditions. Satan will always try to distract and intimidate us with fear. He does this by calling our attention to all the unfavourable details of our situation he can find. Fear is one of the greatest hindrances to our getting anything done. Nevertheless, the efficacy of God’s word is indifferent to prevailing conditions : “For with God nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment.” (Lk 1:37 AMP). Therefore, like the Psalmist, let us adopt the following attitude : “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?” (Ps 56:3-4).
    MAKE ME A SMALL CAKE FROM IT FIRST—Elijah’s next instruction to the widow—was a call to make God’s interest a priority. It must always be God first, if we are to have His best, consistently. Are you willing to prioritize God’s interest in your home, your job, your relationships etc, regardless of the potential cost? Would the widow make God first in her life, or would she cling to her meagre resources for illusory safety? Her response would show whether she was ready for what God wanted to commit to her. Similarly, God has so much to entrust to you, but will you defy the ominous and raging voices of the conditions around you and take the step you need to take in obedience to Him? There will never be perfect circumstances in which to obey God.
    AFTERWARD MAKE SOME FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR SON. The instruction above, given to the widow, indicates that God wanted her to go ahead with her earlier plan to make a meal for herself and her son. God had nothing against her playing her part in taking care of herself and her son. It was responsible of her to do so.  Likewise, God does not begrudge you your  effort to achieve or do something for yourself. He just wants you to keep things in proper perspective, because until you subordinate your interests to His, you render your efforts useless.
    The widow’s response to the divine instruction is worthy of emulation. The Bible says, “So SHE WENT AWAY AND DID ACCORDING TO THE WORD of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days.” (1Ki 17:15). Like the widow, God wants us to do according to His word irrespective of the conditions around us. Once you have verified that you have His word, the only acceptable response is obedience. Needless to say, she went from languishing in destitution to supplying others with food. True to the infallibility of God’s word, “The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah.” (1Ki 17:16). Shalom.