5 Verses for When You Meet the Right Person at the Wrong Time

What does the Bible say about meeting the right person at the wrong time? While Scripture does not use the phrase “right person, wrong time,” many verses speak to the need for God’s divine timing for something to be right.

Therefore, here are five Bible verses that can really help you if you feel like you may have met the right person at the wrong time.

Also, there’s only one more day to get the free bonus material that comes with the purchase of my new book, Masculinity on Mission: Reclaim What God Intended for Your Manhood. This book applies biblical principles to the issues modern man faces, such as purposelessness, relational passivity, addictions, and more.

For everyone who purchases a copy before 2/10/2026, I’m giving away two of my most important courses at AGW University, along with 7 of my other books (PDF format).

Click here to visit the Amazon sales page. Then, send your proof of purchase to bonusecourse@applygodsword.com, and you will gain instant lifetime access to all of this content.

For more information about this new book and the bonus material, click here!

1. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 Teaches Us that Meeting the Right Person at the Wrong Time Is a Real Thing

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven . . . a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted . . . a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance . . . a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose . . . a time to keep silence, and a time to speak . . .”

It’s not hard to see how relevant this Bible passage is when you feel like you may have met the right person at the wrong time.

First, this verse gives you hope that it’s possible to actually meet the right person at the wrong time. Sometimes it feels like the right person at the wrong time, but in reality, it’s just the wrong person, so it will never be the right time. However, this isn’t always the case. As Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 clearly states, there are seasons in life that must occur for something to be right.

Perhaps now is the time to plant, to weep, to mourn, to refrain from embracing, to feel the loss, and to remain silent. However, in a different season, the Lord may tell you it’s now time to reap what was planted, to laugh, to dance, to embrace, to seek, and to speak your feelings.

For example, perhaps both of you are still growing in the Lord and are not prepared to enter into the covenant of marriage. Now would be the time to plan, plant, and remain silent about your deep longings. Or maybe one of you is ready but the other has a commitment in life that is pulling them away, such as being in the military or traveling for work. That should be grieved. And yet, these are variables that could change. Someday, once the barrier is removed, the relationship might be possible.

The point is, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 gives us the biblical grounds to consider the possibility that this is the right person but it’s just the wrong time.

2. Song of Solomon 2:7 Teaches Us Not to Force Love When It’s Not the Right Time

Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.” (NIV)

The Hebrew word for “love” in this verse is ahabah (אַהֲבָה). It refers to the emotion and passion of love rather than to a person.¹ Thus, it’s safe to say that the speaker isn’t commanding restraint toward moral love but is addressing the emotional and sexual stirring that romantic love produces.

In other words, the passions of romance can only thrive in a healthy way when the relationship itself is in a season of maturity. Romance is like a fire. It can bring warmth and nurture life, or it can burn and bring death. It depends on whether the right variables are present to manage the fire effectively. Fire running wild in a house will destroy. A fire in the fireplace will provide life-giving heat.

Likewise, romance without the proper relationship maturity to handle it can be destructive. But when the couple is ready to manage the romance with commitment and love, it can bring the joy God intends.

Thus, it is the right person but the wrong time when the love is genuine but the relationship maturity is lacking to rightly handle the passions that are beginning to stir.

For example, sometimes a man and woman are too young and would need to date for years before they could get married. Or sometimes a couple is of marriage age, but they are not prepared to make that type of commitment for varying reasons.

Whatever the case may be, Song of Solomon 2:7 teaches us that if you have met the right person but it’s the wrong time to rightly handle the passions that are being stirred, the best course of action is to be patient and don’t force things. When the passions can be managed in a holy way, then it will be the right time.

3. Proverbs 19:2 Teaches Us to Match Our Desires with Knowledge

Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way.”

This verse challenges the idea that strong feelings automatically mean divine permission. This doesn’t mean that strong desires are bad. But it clearly affirms that strong desires must be directed with knowledge.

Knowledge will protect you from tricking yourself into believing this is the right person but just the wrong time. If you just lean into your desires without being logical too, you could endlessly wait for a time that will never come. The truth is, if this really is the right person, someday it will also be the right time. If it’s never the right time, this person was never the right person for you.

Thus, you have to logically look at the reasons for why the relationship is not happening now. If the reasons are not going to change anytime soon, then knowledge would lead you to fully move on from this person rather than waiting longer. God probably has someone else for you. But if you never move on, you might miss this blessing.

Also, even if this really is the right person but the wrong time, knowledge will help you navigate the confusion. As this verse states, “whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way.” Desire is like the engine of a race car. But knowledge is like the steering wheel. Without steering your desires with knowledge, you will speed right into a crash.

For example, if this person is taking a really long time to get comfortable enough to enter into romance with you, even though you two are connecting deeply as friends, your desires will want to speed ahead. But knowledge will help you act more wisely. You will need to logically discern if you should take a step back to protect your heart for the time being or if you should stay present in the friendship because things are progressing, just slower than you want.

4. Genesis 29:20 Teaches Us that You Will Be Motivated to Wait If This Truly Is the Right Person

So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.”

As we all know, Jacob is not the perfect model of a godly man, particularly when it comes to relationships. However, this verse highlights a biblical principle that can help you address a right-person-wrong-time situation. The principle is this: If God really wants you to wait for someone, you will also have the internal energy and motivation to do so. Philippians 2:13 (NLT), “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”

In other words, if you are hurting more and more the longer you wait, regressing spiritually as time goes on, and living life less and less as you wait for this person, you are probably not called to wait at all.

When you have a deep love that is not just infatuation, idolization, or an unfulfilled hope that is leading to despair, you will have a supernatural patience to wait for this person in a way that is healthy and good for you.

As 1 Corinthians 13:4 states, “Love is patient . . .”

5. Psalm 27:14 Teaches Us to Wait in a Courageous Way, Not a Passive Way

Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”

The Hebrew word translated “wait” in Psalm 27:14 is qavah, a term far richer than the English word suggests. Rather than describing passive delay, qavah means “to wait with hope,” pointing to an active posture of expectation and readiness during the waiting process. Grasping this nuance reshapes how we understand and live out this verse.

Qavah also carries the idea of tension—like when you flex your muscle as it holds something heavy—which strengthens rather than weakens. This is why the same word appears in Isaiah 40:31, where God promises renewed strength to “those who wait for the LORD.” The tension involved in waiting is not just about remaining still, but more so about keeping your heart still in the Lord as you actively follow his leading in your life.

Therefore, if God is truly telling you that this is the right person at the wrong time, he’s not really telling you to wait for this person. Rather, first and foremost, God is always telling us to wait for him!

God is the one who has to direct our steps. So whether you are sure this is the right person at the wrong time, or if you are confused and not certain what is going on, the Bible is always telling us to wait on the Lord in a courageous way.

To do this, we are not literally just sitting and waiting. Rather, we are actively following the Lord and doing what he wants us to do in life, trusting that he will produce the results he wants to produce in his timing.

And don’t forget, the deadline to get the two free bonus courses and seven extra books closes tomorrow, 2/10/26, at 11:59pm.

To learn more about Masculinity on Mission and the bonus material, click here! All you need to do is purchase a copy on Amazon. Then, send your proof of purchase to bonuscourse@applygodsword.com.