Monday: In God’s Time
Read Romans 5:6 and Galatians 4:4. What do they tell us about God’s timing?
In these verses, Paul tells us that Jesus came to die for us at exactly the right time. But Paul does not tell us why it was the right time. It is very easy to read these verses and wonder,
Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com
Why did Jesus wait for thousands of years until He came to the earth to deal with sin — didn’t the universe understand that sin was a very bad thing long before then? We may ask why Jesus is waiting to come the second time also. We may also ask, Why is the Lord waiting so long to answer my prayer?
Think about, for instance, the 70-week prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27, the prophecy that points to Jesus as the Messiah (review it if you need to). How long was this time period? What does this tell you about learning to wait for things in God’s time, even if it takes what seems to us a long time?
There are many important spiritual reasons why we will experience waiting times. First, waiting can refocus our attention away from “things” and back to God Himself. Second, waiting allows us to develop a clearer picture of our own motives and desires. Third, waiting builds perseverance — spiritual stamina. Fourth, waiting opens the door to developing many spiritual strengths, such as faith and trust. Fifth, waiting allows God to put down other pieces in the puzzle of the bigger picture. Sixth, we may never know the reason we have to wait; hence, we learn to live by faith. Can you think of any other reasons for waiting?
| What examples can you find in the Bible of God’s doing things in His own time that can help you learn to trust that He will do for you what’s right in His own time, as well? (Think, for instance, about Abraham and Sarah and the promise of a son.) At the same time, ask yourself, “What might I be doing that could be delaying the answer to a prayer that could have been answered long ago?” |
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I am not a great fan of "instant" food. The peas are either like little rubber marbles or descend into an off-putting green slime that causes my throat muscles to work in reverse. I grew up in the days before refrigerators were cheap enough for ordinary folk to own. If you wanted fresh milk you milked the cow. If you wanted fresh peas - first of all you sowed the seed, waited for them to germinate, had a daily fight with the quails to stop them from eating the plants, trained the plants to grow on the trellis, and waited for the peas to ripen. Then you had to pick the peas, shell them and give them to your mother to cook. They were cooked slowly to perfection and then piled on your plate in a glorious mound of green that taste nothing like anything called peas that you buy in a shop today. If you have only ever bought instant, tinned, frozen peas, you ought to try real fresh, homegrown peas. They are a culinary delight.
The problem with us is that we expect everything to be instant. Food, entertainment, house repairs, and so on. I mentioned I had to replace my computer a couple of weeks ago. Apple doesn't keep stock here in Australia, so I had to order my new computer online. They said it would take three weeks to get here. Oh, the agony. I had to watch the tracker as made its way from Shanghai to Hong Kong, then to Singapore, then to Sydney, and finally, it was on my way home. I was actually out when they called me to tell me it was being delivered. It was more instant than I had anticipated. (There is a lesson in that too)
And yet, we sometimes expect the sin problem to be solved instantly. We expect old sin habits to stop immediately. We expect answers to our questions straight away. Sometimes we confuse ourselves with our perception of an omnipotent God as one who does everything instantly. Omnipotent does not mean instantaneously.
My paternal grandfather was 80 years old when he was baptised. All the rest of the family became Seventh-day Adventists 40 years earlier. But Grandad was a Mason and had his own spirituality. It took those 40 years for the quiet working of the Holy Spirit to convince Grandad that he had to depend on Jesus. That was half a lifetime. And a special thank you to my little grandmother, who never gave a Bible study, but who lived patiently and lovingly with my grandfather all those years. God worked in parternship with her.
I believe the 5th reason given in today's lesson is the primary reason for the particular timing of things. There are sooooooo many other contingent pieces in the much, much 'bigger picture' - the timing of each and every piece (and even micro and nano-piece) being intricately and masterfully orchestrated by God in order for all things to work together for good, both ultimately and at every single step along the way (Romans 8:28; Proverbs 16:9; Proverbs 3:5-6).
And within that reality and necessity, we also have opportunity and necessity to grow in patience and reliance. The God who is doing all of the above is also the very same God who seeks to dwell intimately within us through His Spirit (Isaiah 57:15).
I have uplifted each of you reading this today amid your particular situation and circumstance of waiting on God, that He may strengthen and raise up every single one of you to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 3:14-19). And I would invite you to also join me in doing this today (2 Chronicles 7:14 principle).
Thanks!
Thank you Phil. That’s what we need to do more often than not - to pray for one another. Sometimes we get too picky and waste time debating words and thereby missing ‘the big picture’. I will pause now to pray for all these lovely people who take the time to share their thoughts and expertise on this platform including you Phil. Thanks again for the reminder to pray one for another while we wait.
Thanks for your prayers Phil. I really need to learn to be patient
Powerful contribution Phil.
May Gods name be praised
Thank you Phil for your post.
It is easy to think while we are waiting for God to act that not much is going on in the heavenly realm. But we are mistaken if that is our belief. Jacob's staircase is a lesson to this point. (Genesis 28:12.)
In Sabbath School today, we talked about the value of waiting—not the kind of waiting where we sit tapping our toes or drumming our fingers until something happens or stewing in anxiety about the future—but real waiting: asking God to work in our hearts to overcome our fears and align our wills with his, in spite of people and circumstances. In this type of waiting, he will never forsake us and there will be true peace in our hearts. In this type of waiting, we will know God and he will know us.
One of the reasons I have discovered why I had to wait for the LORD to act was it helped me realise that all other options had been exhausted and the only possibility was that it was the LORD who had resolved my crisis for me.
In the waiting, the Lord has taught me the meaning of surrender, and how to surrender my will & my life to Him & His will. It took me over 25 years to learn this from the time surrender first came to my knowledge and I began to study it and gain head knowledge about it to the time I really began to understand it & do it. I am a doer, "where there is a will there is a way" type of person, surrender, and allowing God to do it is still a daily work for me. But when I fully surrender, I can see how perfectly God works in my life and the lives of those around me.
This passage from Fridays additional readings in the Desire of Ages Chapter 31 from the Sermon on the Mount says it well:
In my imperfection - of resourcefulness, I often love to weigh the issues and solve my own problem. However, the encouragement by Ellen White in The Review and Herald, November 13, 1913 quoted in the devotional book God’s Amazing Grace for December 11, the instructive message concludes with “We must act like men and women who believe it (it being the message of the everlasting gospel). Waiting, watching, working, praying, warning the world - this is our work.” … and while we do this, listening to God, exercising patience, we are practicing Isaiah 58; at peace with God, the Lifegiver will give us peace - in His time (HL 233).
Thank-you for your encouragement and quote, it reminds us of what comes to us by waiting for the gift of power to accomplish His plasure(realizing our own weakness and devoiding ourselves of selfsufficiency),
‘In God’s Time’ – what am I to understand this to mean? Is this ‘time’ as we count time by the minute, hour or day, or is this ‘time’ established because all pieces of the puzzle lined up and it’s the ‘right time' to move to the next step to introduce the next chapter? When the window or door opens, we walk through at the time when our heavenly Father has moved on our behalf that which our faithful, patient endurance calls upon him to bring about.
If I am correct in this understanding of “In God’s time’, I know that every minute of every day of faithful adherence to live according to His council and wisdom, I will focus to stay on His Path which leads toward the experience of giving Him time to sort out the details of the difficult situation I find myself in. I like the 6th reason the lesson writer mentions: “we may never know the reason we have to wait; hence with live by faith!”
Yes, there are ‘important spiritual reasons why we experience waiting on God’, and this is what I understand living by faith in the Word of God means. As we patiently wait upon Him whiles living in accordance with the revealed Word of God according to the Gospel of Christ and not according to our own understanding of how best to deal with the circumstances, God will find the 'right time' to move things forward and our trust in Him, our gratefulness, faith and joy and praise will have increased.
God's timing is perfect and flawless and we can do nothing to make things happen faster or sooner. Jesus' first coming and His death for sin came just at the right time. The same goes for His soon second coming. The Apostle Paul says in Hebrews that "He that will come, will come and will not tarry." Here too, nothing we can do will make Jesus come any sooner or later than He is planning to come.