God’s Timing: Rarely Convenient, Always Perfect

How hard it is to wait on God’s timing. Being surprised by God’s timing is just as hard. Warren Wiersbe offered these words of encouragement about God’s timing. He said, “The best thing you and I can do is to stop looking at our watches and calendars and simply look by faith into the face of God and let Him have His way – in His time

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John 11 retells the account of one of Jesus’ friends falling sick. Verses 5-6 say, “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.” Jesus loved this family. They were close friends. He often rested at their home during his travels, yet he didn’t respond to their message to come quick in a predicable way. He waited for God’s timing which was perfect. Why was it perfect? It was perfect because Lazarus had died. Not only had he died, but he had been dead four days by the time Jesus arrived at their home (verse 39).

Jesus knew that he was about to perform one of his greatest miracles: raising a dead man back to life. However, if he had hurried to Lazarus’ side immediately, and arrived just after he died, many would have claimed that Lazarus had not truly been dead at all. They would have said that he merely appeared dead and recovered in a natural manner. No one could say that of a man who had been dead for four days. You see, rigor mortis sets in just four hours after death. Internal organs begin to decay 24-72 hours after death. After just one day, the body turns a greenish color, and after three days begins to bloat. This is what Lazarus looked like when Jesus stood outside his tomb and called for him. However, when Jesus called, Lazarus walked out of the tomb a whole man. Because Jesus waited, there could be no doubt that Lazarus being raised to life – complete and sound, undecomposed, and able to walk.

God’s timing wasn’t convenient for Lazarus’ sisters. They had mourned their brother for four days. They had purchased a tomb and had prepared his body for burial. Family had been notified. Food had been prepared and visitors began flooding their home. If Jesus had come earlier, he could have saved them a lot of time, effort and money. God’s timing isn’t meant to be convenient. It is meant to be perfect and powerful in that perfection. If God had given Abraham a child when he was thirty, no one would have wondered at the miracle. Because God waited for the perfect timing we see Isaac’s birth from a mother who was 90 and a father who was 100 as an amazing miracle. I was 44 when our daughter was born. I don’t think having a baby at 90 would be convenient, but it would be a miracle!

Trust God’s timing. Don’t look for the obvious but have faith to expect God to move in mysterious ways. Trust that God’s ways are perfect even if our minds say the timing isn’t. I have found those inconvenient and unexpected moments that come when I have waited so long I have given up, are the greatest blessings I could ever experience. Trust God even when you can’t see His plans. Rest in the knowledge that they are good.

Remain Blessed.......