Does God’s timing suit you?

That might seem a strange title for this post, but please bear with me.  I talk a lot about the importance of the lordship of Jesus in the life of Christians – if he is not Lord of all, then he isn’t Lord at all. 

Submission

That is to say, if we are not willing to submit to his purpose and direction for our lives – to his leading us in any and every decision that we make – then we pay only lip service to Jesus being our Lord.  We may not necessarily seek his guidance in everything; we can make our own choices about many everyday decisions, such as what to eat for dinner, and some less mundane choices that we have the spiritual maturity to decide about.  The important thing is that we are open to his direction in everything, having a heart to follow him and honour him in all that we do.  Even when we have truly accepted Jesus’ lordship, there is yet one component that we may feel a little less happy about, and that is his timing. 

Kept waiting

It might be one thing to be obedient to what he calls us to do or to be, but what about when he appears to keep us waiting?  Many of us struggle to be patient, but we know, of course, that this is one of the fruits of the Spirit; something that we need to be prepared to grow in (Galatians 5:22,23).  We tend to think of patience as being about being willing to wait, but the word used in the original Greek language of the New Testament is much richer than this.  The Amplified Bible helpfully notes against the word Patience that it is not about the ability to wait, but rather how we act while waiting.  W. E. Vine, in his Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, tells us that:

“Patience is the quality that does not surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial; it is the opposite of despondency and is associated with hope”.   

The focus upon hope is highlighted in 1 Thessalonians 1:3 where Paul writes: “We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ”.   

It might perhaps be that for us who live in the 21^st century, patience is more of a challenge than for those in previous times.  Our lives tend to be more hectic and demanding; it may seem easier to discard or walk away from something that requires patient endurance.  But the promises of God surely demand that we be prepared to wait not only for his direction or provision, but also for his schedule.  If we are committed to doing his will, then we must also be willing to embrace his timing.

Marathon

In the summer of 2007, the Lord gave Jean and me clear guidance that we were to relocate from where we were living in Cambridgeshire to become part of Hope Church in Worcester.  We were not slow in being obedient to this and put our house on the market.  It remained for sale for three whole years before we had a buyer, and even then, the sale stalled due to a break occurring in our buyer’s chain.  We finally moved in March 2011.  This turned into such a marathon that, towards the end, rather than becoming frustrated, I was bemused as to just how long the Lord was going to allow this episode to last, and how dramatic a testimony we were going to have in the end.  Some time before the sale, we had received a prophetic word during one of our several, albeit infrequent, visits to Hope Church, telling us that the cause of the delay in our relocation wasn’t anything at our end.  We knew that the problem wasn’t the house itself, which was clearly desirable in every way – except, perhaps, one aspect. 

The kitchen

The first thing that I have done, when moving into each of the three houses that have been our home, is to fit a new kitchen with work surfaces at the ergonomically correct height for Jean.  This has been important because she has suffered from back trouble since before we married, and ensuring that the kitchen surfaces are the right height is one thing that I can do to help her.  Jean is tall for a woman, and the standard kitchen height is far too low.  As we saw potential buyers walk down our drive to the house, we would groan as we noticed that the women were shorter than Jean, knowing that although they might love the house, the kitchen would be a challenge.  It was a long time before I came to recognise this regular pattern with viewers and decided that we needed to do something about it.  I declared to Jean that we should pray that only taller women would come to view our house from then on.  And that is what happened.  The next viewers chose to buy our house.

Purpose

This wasn’t the first time that we had to wait for what we knew to be God’s will to be worked out in practice, and I doubt it will be the last.  We need patience, but also to recognise that when God doesn’t bring about what he has promised quickly, there is a good reason; something intended as a blessing rather than a curse.  This reminds me of the well-known verse in Jeremiah 29:11:

“For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’”. 

These words were addressed to the children of Israel, relating to their return from captivity, but they speak clearly about the heart of God towards each of his children – everyone who names Jesus as Lord today.  God desires to bless us, but sometimes that entails waiting for his timing.  In our heart of hearts, we know that timing is important.  It may be that circumstances need to be aligned with the purposes of God, or perhaps that we ourselves need to come to the place where he is able to bless us.  Either way, we can trust him that if there is a delay, then it is necessary, not arbitrary.  Surely, God’s blessing entails timing as much as any other aspect of his grace towards us.