God's Timing

God’s Timing

I was scrolling through the Facebook news feed and someone announced that revival has come to where they were. The first comment they received was “Not now, it’s too hot” and he responded by stating, “it’s hotter in hell”. So… what? He should cancel it because it’s too hot for you?  It doesn’t work that way.

God moves when he’s ready to move and he doesn’t move according to what we want or how or when we want it.

We may not always understand God’s timing. For instance, why things in the world are they way they are and why some get away with murder, at least here on earth they do. Why justice seems like a thing of the past and only the one with the most money wins, regardless of the truth, evidence, witness, documents and facts.

How can we say Lord, help us, heal our land and when God says okay Let’s do a revival, and people come back with “It’s too hot” yet expect him to make things right.

I am the first to say, I don’t like this whole-time table thing. 1000 years in heaven is 1 day on earth…. Etc. If we look at John 11:1-8, 14-16

John 11:1-8, 14-16:

1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.
3 The sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”
4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
6 So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”
8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?”

14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died,

Wait… what? Didn’t he just say it wouldn’t lead to death? What’s going on here….let’s continue this………….

15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16 So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Read verses 5 and 6 carefully.  

Notice that it says that Jesus stayed where he was because He loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. He cared deeply enough that He did not immediately rush to their aid!

Now to any of us that would seem really jacked up. If he cared, he would be there. So, we can see that Jesus was in no hurry to get there. Any of this sounding familiar yet?  Mary and her sister Martha sent a message to Jesus letting him know that Lazarus was ill. He said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”  Yet the dude died. So, did he lie? Not exactly. Technically, you can say yes, because he did die in the physical form, but at least that wasn’t the end of his story.

Was he powerless? No, that’s why they sent for him, knowing he can make things right, so instead of going there, he doddles around for 2 days and then went there, well… it’s not like Lazarus was going anywhere anyway, right?

Their calls for help were delayed in being answered. Yea… I know, it sounds really jacked up. Especially when it’s an emergency life and death type of sitch.

Was he reckless in this? No. He wanted to show the glory of God. That’s what it came down to and that’s what he did. Mary and Martha knew Jesus. They knew who he was and that’s why they were so upset when he finally chose to make a presence there. Their first response was “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Now, I don’t know about you, but you can tell they were really upset with him, disappointed in him and possibly angry with him. I would be too. Knowing he could stop it but waited until it was too late. Yea… about that.  

But… what did he do? He called out to Lazarus and was brought back to life. He lived!!! Jesus raised him from the dead!! So that the son may be glorified through the Father. So, for us, our next response would be, so… why couldn’t he do that for me or my family if he’s the same yesterday, today and forever?

We don’t understand it, we can never understand the mind of God. That’s clear. We don’t always agree with God’s timing because it seems like he’s usually late or he just doesn’t answer.  Come on, you know I’m right!

God has a reason for everything. We don’t understand it, we don’t like it but it is what it is. His timing can be the difference between success and failure, life and death. It could be he’s protecting you from something that could go horribly wrong. Everything God does is for his Glory. Even though we may not agree with how things are done we have to keep in mind that God knows what’s best for us. It may not seem like it at times, but it is the truth.

I have that tendency to say those things that everyone’s thinking or feeling about a sitch that most can’t or won’t say whatever reason. I think it’s good to put it out there. Everyone’s thinking it, so why not say it?  Why keep it quiet when everyone’s wondering. Keeping it quiet won’t get you the answers.

No one dislikes this whole timing thing more than me, trust me. It seems I’ve spent most of my life waiting and yes… it sucks in the biggest way it possibly can! But we have to keep in mind that God does know what he is doing. Even if we don’t agree. We have to come to the point of trusting God, no matter what.

Trusting God on everything is an issue for me. I can trust God on most situations, but on others, I seem to have a real issue because it seemed when I needed him the most, he wasn’t there and people died, lives were destroyed, and yea…  it wasn’t a good situation at all. I may never know why things happened the way they did but… I still love God. I may be hand shy on some things with him but that doesn’t stop me from loving him. What happened in our lives, really jacked me up mentally, emotionally… in more ways you can imagine. Some days are a battle just to get through it. Some days are okay, others are not.

Why God choses to allow bad things to happen to good people who love him is something I have been trying to figure out. It all comes down to God’s will, God’s perfect timing. It may seem like God has forgot you, but I assure you, he hasn’t. It may feel like it, it may look like it, but not everything is as it appears. God works behind the scenes and when it’s time, things will blossom into what God has ordained it to be. He will get the Glory and you will rejoice.

We have to remember his timing is about faith. Having faith to believe that what ever is going on, no matter how it looks, we have to believe God is doing things that are in our best interest, regardless of how it looks, feels or seems and it’s all in God’s timing.

Until Next Time