5 Feelings God Will Let You Have When You Meet the Right Person at the Wrong Time

As Christians who want to obey the Lord and please him in everything we do, our feelings can be a bit confusing at times, especially when it comes to relationships.

On one hand, we know that we must not be led away by our feelings. We must be anchored in biblical truth regardless of how we feel about a certain person or situation.

On the other hand, we know that God designed romantic relationships to involve the feelings. We must not only make sure a relationship is biblical, but we must also make sure it is personally desirable.

So, rather than choosing facts or feelings, we must learn to navigate relationships with both the facts and our feelings. Therefore, here are 5 feelings you may have when God has indeed allowed you to meet the right person at the wrong time.

1. If God Has Allowed You to Meet the Right Person at the Wrong Time, He Will Also Allow You to Feel Peace that He Will Bring This Person Back If They Truly Are the Right Person

I think one of the reasons so many people wonder if they have met the right person but it was just the wrong time is because they are anxious that they will not end up with this one person they thought was the one.

At many points, Christians get a strong sense that they have just met their future spouse, but then the facts don’t materialize to validate their feelings. Thus, instead of assuming they may have just misunderstood and accept this person is not the one, they cling to this idea that this is the right person but it’s just the wrong time.

To be clear, I do believe that you can meet the right person at the wrong time. My point, however, is that you aren’t going to really know this is the right person until you two actually meet again and get married one day. Until the facts are there, all we have are feelings.

So I think the healthy way to view all this is through fully submitting to God’s sovereign will over our timing and relationships. If you are anxious and worried and clinging to this idea that this is right person and it’s just the wrong time, it’s more likely it’s just the wrong person and you’re struggling to accept the facts God has given you.

But if you are at peace and can say something like, “If this really is the right person, I know God will bring them back, but in the meantime, I’m not going to worry about it,” then that sounds like a Holy Spirit led statement (Philippians 4:4-7).

2. If God Has Allowed You to Meet the Right Person at the Wrong Time, He Will Let You Feel Confused Because God Will Not Reveal the Whole Future to You

Perhaps you now feel like I’m contradicting what I just said in point 1. How can God let you feel at peace while also letting you feel confused? Well, when you really think about it, confusion can cause anxiety when we really want clarity, but confusion doesn’t have to cause anxiety if we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.

For example, in Acts 10, God sent Peter a vision that led Peter to feel confused (Acts 10:17). God didn’t cause Peter to be confused because God is not a God of confusion but of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33). However, we can still feel confused even when God is speaking to us because we are imperfect and not all knowing, thus we may misunderstand or not be fully capable of receiving the full revelation at this point in our journey.

Peter, for example, only had his confusion erased when he stopped praying to God and started talking to Cornelius about what God had told him too (Acts 10:34). Only when these two men came together were they able to understand the full truth God was teaching them both.

Therefore, you should not be surprised if you are confused about whether or not this person really is the right person but it’s just the wrong time. God will let you feel confused about this because in time, he will provide the answers. In the meantime, however, he wants you to trust him and find your peace in Jesus, not in perfect knowledge about your relationship future.

3. If You Meet the Right Person at the Wrong Time, God Will Let You Feel Hopeful

It’s certainly possible to meet someone who ends up being your spouse years later but not have any hope of being with them when you first met. So I’m not saying everyone will always feel hopeful that someone is the right person even though it appears to be the wrong time.

Nonetheless, it’s also true that if you really don’t like someone, that is a great sign that is not the person God has for you. God will not force you to marry someone you don’t want to marry (1 Corinthians 7:36-38). Thus, one of the prerequisites for a man and woman to realize they are right for each other is the desire to want to be right for each other.

In many situations, someone really likes another person, but life and timing get in the way and the relationship doesn’t progress. In these situations, it’s healthy to hope that perhaps this is the right person but it’s just the wrong time. You don’t want to “name and claim” this idea of it being the right person but the wrong time. But it’s certainly healthy to have hope that it is. And sometimes God uses that hope to keep the two people open enough to reconnect when the timing is much better.

For a biblical justification for these concepts, you can read my other article called Will God Ever Force You to Marry Someone You Don’t Like?

4. If You Meet the Right Person at the Wrong Time, God Will Let You Feel Content

Discontentment is often a sign that something is off. Of course it’s not wrong to be unhappy about not having something you want. I’m not saying you have to be content with being single if you want to be married. But as Christians, we are called to have a deeper form of contentment that penetrates deep into our hearts. It’s a contentment that goes beyond our circumstances and is rooted in Christ (Philippians 4:11-13).

Therefore, when God is leading your feelings and you are not just wishing this is the right person but it’s the wrong time, he will also be blessing you with a contentment during your season of waiting and confusion.

5. If You Meet the Right Person at the Wrong Time, God Will Let You Feel an Openness

I think if you are completely closed to every other possibility other than this being the right person at the wrong time, then that is not a good sign God is leading you to feel this way.

I think a healthier approach would be to say, “I’m open to this being the right person at the wrong time, but I’m also open to this not being the right person. I’m going to remain open to other possible matches if God leads someone new into my life.”

The truth is, we set ourselves up for God’s best when we stop assuming we know what God’s best is. Trust that he knows the best for you. It may be this person you are thinking about, but it may be someone else. Stay open, that way you don’t miss anything good God wants to give you.

As Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10).