IN GOD’S TIME
By: C. Mason Davis
A man was speaking to God, and he asked him, "God is it true that to you a thousand years is a minute?" "That's true," God replied. "And is it true that to you $1,000,000 is like a penny?" "That's true," God said. "Well, you see I'm a poor man and I was wondering if you could give me a penny," asked the man. "Sure," said God, "in a minute.”
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
2 Peter 3:8 says, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
In life we're always waiting for something such as waiting for a dream to come true, waiting to meet the right person, or waiting for an answer to a life’s issue. When it's not happening as fast as we would like it's easy to get frustrated. But we must realize the moment you prayed to God He already knew what you’d ask for, as well as when He would answer your prayer. God knows the time you will meet the right person, when you’ll solve your life’s issue, when you’ll be healed, when you’ll get your promotion, and even when you’ll die. It may be tomorrow, or next week, or five years from now, but when you understand the time for anything and everything has already been set, it takes all the pressure off you. You’ll no longer need to live your life in worry, wondering when whatever is going to happen. You'll be able to relax and enjoy your life knowing that the promise has already been determined by our Creator.
The first thing we need to understand about God’s timing is that it is perfect, just as all of God’s ways are perfect. God’s timing is never early, and it’s never been late. In fact, from before our birth until the moment we take our last earthly breath, our sovereign God is accomplishing His divine purposes in our lifetimes. He is in complete control of everything and everyone from everlasting to everlasting. No event in history has put so much as a wrinkle in the timing of God’s eternal plan, which He designed before the foundation of the world. Our patience often reveals the degree of trust we have in God’s timing. We must remember that God operates according to His perfect and foreordained eternal schedule, not ours. We should take great comfort in knowing that, when we wait on the Lord, we receive divine energy and strength. Another key to understanding God’s timing is trust. In fact, our ability to wait on the Lord is largely related to how much we trust Him. God does indeed hear the cries of His children and will answer those cries according to His perfect will and timing.
Some of you may have been praying about an issue in your life for a long time. You may not see anything happening concerning your issue. You could easily be discouraged. Some may even come to blame God for their situation. You believe that you’re doing everything in life the right way, thus you shouldn’t have any issues or obstacles in life. I’m sure that we’d all love to be able to see into the future and know the exact day and time that God will provide the solution to our problems, but by giving us this information, we’d all start living like robots waiting for that day and time. Actually, we’d all stop living in freedom. We would all go through a lot of our daily rituals, but we would most likely stop trying. We would become a world of entitled brats. We wouldn’t life a life of faith, but a life of expectation. Of course, we’d no longer be discouraged from time to time, and if you take out the negative part of life, then you’ll never be able to know what is positive. Instead, we would be excited like little kids awaiting Christmas morning, knowing already what’s in each present with your name on it under the Christmas tree. You’d know the big day is coming. So, if you already know your future and where it’s going, then where’s the adventure? God allows life’s setbacks to keep us honest. To keep us believing in Him. We would all love to live a carefree life with no issues or stressful situations, ever. But life is hard! A harder life gives us each more of a purpose in living. For myself, I don’t want life to be easy. I want life to be worth it. If our lives were perfect and sin free, God knows that He’d be taken for granted, that no one would think that they need Him. We have to live with doubt. Not having doubt in God, but not having doubt in ourselves. With doubt living in our daily lives, we need to have faith in all that is good to overcome all that can be bad about life. Because God created us, because He is omnipresent, and because He knows all, we must have faith in Him and His instruction manual for our lives, The Bible. We must believe what it says, and we must live by His commandments in order to have eternal life, and all of this starts with faith. Deuteronomy 7:9 says, “Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.” Here's where it takes faith. My question is, "Do you trust God enough to believe that your pre-determined times for your requests or your answers are coming"? When times are hard, we must show faith in God by praying for answers to those hard times. Are you willing to wait with a good attitude knowing that they're on their way? Are you willing to continue to live by His word knowing that one day your prayers will be answered?
Or will you get discouraged and start doubting everything. This is where agnostics and atheist will start telling you that God doesn’t exist. That we are believing in a myth, in a fantasy. That if God existed, then tragedy wouldn’t happen. Bad things wouldn’t happen. That He would stop any and all doubt because He would make everything okay, all the time. They would say that if someone who believes in God and lives a Godly life, they wouldn’t be at risk of losing their house because they never would have lost their job, or they wouldn’t have become sick to the point of not being able to afford the house payments, because God would never let that happen. Therefore, there is no God.
The truth is that bad things happen to good people, but that doesn’t mean that God doesn’t exist. Bad things can happen to anyone, and they do. It’s a fact of life. It’s a way of life. How can anyone expect to go through life without stubbing their toe at least once. Sometimes bad things happen that we, ourselves, cause to happen. Other times bad people cause bad things to happen and no matter what we do, how we try to protect our lives, they’re still going to happen. Everything happens for a reason but no matter how much thought or feeling we put into those instances, we just can’t figure out why they happened. We don’t have the ability, the education, the experience, nor the power to think like God. This is why we must have faith in God’s leadership, in His word, and follow Him as sheep would follow a shepherd. After all, we are each one of His flock.
We often wonder during down or sad times why God would allow these things to happen to us. We were created with brains of our own so we could live with free-will. That means that we can make our own decisions on everything, whether it be on what to eat, where to go, what to do, and even to believe in God or not. We learn early in life that we are all sinners, we all make mistakes, and that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, so we can come to heaven one day and live an eternal life with God. Romans 5:6 states, “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Having free-will means that we aren’t going to be perfect. We’re each going to make good and bad decisions, perhaps do some bad things, but overall, if we repent and ask for forgiveness, we too, will be forgiven by Him. Trials and tribulations are a way of life, and they will weigh heavily on our hearts from time to time. We will go through situations that cast doubt upon our beliefs and might even have doubts about religion. When times become so dark in life, it’s easy to develop a completely negative personality that carries over into anything that you do. Just remember that if you start to feel this way that keeping a negative way about you will only allow you to eat, breath, and live in the negative. Negativity begats negativity; whereas positivity begats positivity. You are what you feel. It’s in times like these that we must fight through those negative situations to turn the negative into positives.
There are many reasons to believe and trust in God’s timing, such as:
• His word has never failed, and it never will.
• God has good intentions for you.
• He has proven himself trustworthy before.
• He is always on time.
• He doesn’t have deadlines.
• He is never impatient.
• God’s timing is honest.
• His judgement is never clouded.
• He only has you in mind.
• God’s timing has the proper perspective.
• Even His “bad timing” is perfect.
• There are never any strings attached.
And…no appointments are necessary.
God is omnipresent in each of our lives. He knows what we think and what we are going to think. He knows what we are doing and knows what we are going to do. He knows what and when every thought will be thought. He knows what and when every word spoken by us will be spoken. He knows what and when every good or every bad instance in our lives will happen. God allows all that we’ll go through to happen as a lesson to each of us to keep our faith, no matter what. To keep loving and believing in Him, no matter our circumstances.
When these circumstances take place in our lives, they are all known by God. He knows what will happen before, during, and after each event. We must all live through these trials to know the difference between living in a life of faith and not. God’s timing seems to be the subject of most events we live through, good or bad. If it’s a bad event, we must work harder to live the God-like life that He intends for us to live. To be better in our thoughts, in our crisis, and no matter how negative the event, to come out of it with a positive reinforcement to our faith. To know that we are sinners and must work each and every breath to praise Him for what He has given us.
Sometimes we’ll have what we believe to be a life-altering event happen to us. Something that will make us change in our life from guilt, from grief, from anger, or from sadness. We must understand that God hears all and knows all and has given us all the answers we need to overcome all of these reactions. His timing of these events won’t be to our liking or agreement, but they happen, nonetheless. Did God cause these events to happen, or did he just allow them to happen? God doesn’t create any of these circumstances, but the are the product of our choices, our wills, and our lives. He knows what will happen and when, as well as the outcome of what these events will do to us. Accidents happen all the time. When we cause an accident that causes another person harm, we blame ourselves, and sometimes, we blame God for letting it happen. If something we did by accident causes someone we love to die, we tend to die with them even though we’re still alive. The timing of this is all know to God, yet we always question that timing. We start to wonder about what decision we could have made differently to keep this catastrophe from happening. We look to the past and wish we could go back to change the outcome. But we must follow God and live for the future, not in the past. Let’s say that an accident you were part of took the life of a loved one and then you blame yourself. You wished or even prayed that God would take you instead to bring that loved one back to life. If this be the case, ask yourself one question. Would that loved one want you to live a life of grief over a mistake, over an accident? No! That loved one would want you to forgive yourself and move on having learned a lesson from that mistake. Your loved one has already forgiven you, so forgive yourself. Just remember that forgiving yourself does not mean forgetting what happened, nor forgetting that loved one.
No matter when an event like losing a loved one happens, the timing will never be good to us. But we have to trust in God that He has a higher purpose for that loved one to perform, thus He called that one to Him for that higher purpose. Whether it be a child, a middle-aged sibling or parent, or an older friend who is loved like family, they will all be missed, but there is a lot of truth to the fact that they are now in a better place. For that person to be in a better place, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. We, as humans, are only human in our thinking and our feeling. We don’t understand God’s timing of things. For that person who is now with Jesus, the timing is right.
For all of us pet lovers, the timing of a pet’s life is never long enough. We wish and pray that they can live as long as we do, but that is not in God’s plan, nor in His timing. The reason for that is that animals live without sin. Some animals are pets to us humans, but we are sinners and not the pets. Pets are a creation from God as an example to us how to live without sin and how to love unconditionally. Pets don’t have to learn to live without sin, so they don’t have to be here with us as long. That is part of God’s plan for us, part of God’s timing, too.
This is when you've got to get a new perspective in life, on life. God has a time for everything. A time for you to get over your alcohol addiction. It's already in your future. Don't let the negative thoughts talk you out of it. There is a time for you to be completely well, and a time for God to turn your life around to the positive from the negative. It’s a life-changing attitude adjustment that is created on the basis of faith. Do you believe in God or not? Are you willing to follow His lead? Are you willing to accept that life’s answers will come in His time and not your own?
A surefire way to becoming more understanding about God’s timing is to stop worrying about everything. Quit living stressed out about everything. Give all the doubts and impatience a rest. It says in Hebrews 4:3, "For we which have believed enter into rest.” The way you know you're really believing is when you have inner peace, a rest of sorts. You know the answer is on the way. You know the right people, the right opportunities, have already been set in your future. The timing of things to happen in your life are already set in your future. You've prayed, believed, stood in faith. I assure you; you're going to come into times of favor, a time where a problem suddenly turns around, a time where you meet the right person, and a time where a good break thrust you ahead in life. In Habakkuk 2:3 says, "The vision is for an appointed time. It may seem slow in coming but wait patiently, for it will surely come.” Notice not, "Maybe come.” Not, "I hope so.” No, God has already set the time. The appointed time has already been put on your calendar. Another translation says, "It won't be one second late.”
Sometimes we think that everybody is getting ahead of me. My friends are all married and I'm still single. My co-workers are being promoted but I'm still stuck in the same position at work. Don't get discouraged. Your time is coming. It is not going to be one second late. The good news is God knows how to make up for what seems like lost time. Be the best that you can be. Keep honoring God with your life. Keep treating people right and God will get you to where you're supposed to be. That promotion, that healing, that breakthrough, that right person, and they won't be one second late. Our God is not a random God. He is a precise God. He has lined up solutions for you down to the very second.
I knew a young lady that was hoping to meet the right man. She was in her early 30's and never really had a serious relationship with anyone. She was starting to wonder if it was going to happen. One day she was driving home from work. She had a flat tire and pulled over on the side of the freeway. In a few seconds, another car pulled over. Out stepped this young man as handsome as can be, went up to her window and asked if he could help her. She took one look at him and thought to herself, "I think you can.” He not only changed her tire, but he invited her out to dinner. Long story short, they ended up falling in love. A year and a half later they got married. Today, they're as happy as can be. That wasn't a coincidence. It wasn't a lucky break. That was the time ordained by our Creator.
Think about how precise God's timing is. The tire had to go flat at just the right time. An hour later and it wouldn't have happened. There had to be just the right amount of traffic. Too many cars and he would've been late. Too few cars and he would've driven past that site too early. He had to leave his work at just the right time. One extra fifteen-minute phone call and that meeting would have never happened. The timing was down to the split second for it to all fall into place.
The point that I’m trying to get across to you is that you can trust God's timing. God has it all figured out. What you're praying about, what you're praying for, it's not going to be one second late. If it hasn't happened yet it doesn't mean something is wrong or that you’re doing wrong. It doesn't mean God is mad at you. It doesn't mean it's never going to work out. God has already established the time, so you don't have to worry. You don't have to live frustrated. Stay in peace. Enter into this rest. God has you in the palm of his hand. Your steps are being directed by the Creator. Not randomly and not vaguely. When you understand this, it takes all of the pressure off of you. You won't go around wondering when something is going to happen. When you adjust to the fact that whatever will happen in God’s time, you should then allow yourself to be at peace. Whether it's 20 minutes or 20 years you know what God promised he will bring to fruition.
If you’ll ask for God to give you the grace to accept His timing, He will expect you, through faith, to not feel pressured or impatient, but instead, feel rest and at peace. Some of us can’t help but be controlling, but that doesn’t show faith. That doesn’t show trust. Remember that we should never stress over the small stuff, and it’s all small stuff. Being a true Christian and being true to God, you can’t have it both ways. Give your issues to God and trust him to handle them when and how the fixes are best for you. You have to put everything into God’s hands to handle them. It’s not right to turn to God with your problems while in the meantime, you worry, stress, and keep pressure on yourself to fix them instead of waiting for God’s timing for fixing things. I know it’s hard, but you’ve got to give into fears and let Him be the healer of all your wounds, the Handyman to all you need fixed. I have a t-shirt that I wear quite often that says, “I’m going to let God fix it because if I have to, I’m going to jail.” Just remember that no matter how difficult life becomes, God will never put more on your plate than you can handle. Just by looking at me you can tell that God puts a lot on my plate. Problem is, I eat every bite of it.
I'd love to tell you that if you stay in faith, if you believe, then God will always answer your prayer within 24 hours, or at least within the first week. But know now, that's not reality. God promises He will be true to his word, but he never reveals a timeframe to us. It would be a lot easier if God told us when we were going to get well, when we would meet the right person, when our child would start behaving, but that won’t be the case. The appointed time is the best time. God can see the big picture for our lives. He knows what's up ahead. He knows what we're going to need, who we are going to need, and when it’s best that this person shows up in your life. If God did everything, we ask on our timetable, it would limit us. Not because what we're asking for is too small, but because it may not be the right time. In Ecclesiastes 3:1 it says, “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” Sometimes the person we think we can't live without, God knows now that in ten years a person is not going to be good for you, so he would close that door right now. You may think you’re ready for a certain promotion right now, but God would know if you’re ready for it or not and that getting this promotion now would would keep you from a much bigger promotion that he is preparing you for three years from now. In a case such as this, He would bring the right promotion to you at the right time. God has the advantage in these issues. God has the advantage of seeing it all.
The longer I live the more I trust him. God knows what he is doing. And what you're praying about may be best for you, or perhaps not. It may be a part of your destiny, but it might not happen just yet because it’s not the appointed time. If there is a right time, that also means there is a wrong time. If it hasn't happened yet, instead of being frustrated or worried, put it in God’s hands. If you haven’t already, try a new approach. Try His approach. God knows what's best for you. Perhaps now you can see the big picture. Don’t allow yourself to live a life full of frustration. Show God that you trust Him with your life through your faith, love, and devotion, by giving yourself to Him, and into His timing.
Today, we’re living in a society that wants and demands everything right now. We’re living in the time of instant gratification. We're being programmed for immediacy. In today’s world, we don’t like to wait for anything, or anyone. Hebrews 6:12 says, "It's through faith and patience that we inherit the promises.” It’s easy to have faith. Tell yourself and God that "God, I believe I'm going to accomplish my dreams. God, I believe I'm going to overcome this obstacle,” and you will. If you’ve got the faith part down, make sure that you get the patience part down, as well. Sometimes we pray, "God, give me this promise right now.” What we can't see is that something, or someone is not ready. Maybe it's another person that's going to be involved. God is still working on them. Maybe it's another situation that's going to be a part of your destiny. It's not in place yet. Or maybe God is doing work in you, developing your character, growing you stronger in that process, for that right time.
Once again, if you're constantly trying to figure things out that's only going to frustrate you. Turn it over to God. Put yourself in God in your hands. Don’t worry about why something hasn't happened or worry about why it's taking so long. So often we think we have to do it only in our own strength. This is when many people make quick decisions that end up only making matters worse. Psalms 46:10 says, "Be still and know that I am God.” Prove to God that you trust Him, by allowing yourself to stay patient, worry and stress free, and to know that at the right times everything will come to pass. Sometimes when we get in a hurry, we make the mistake of taking matters into our own hands and we try to force things to happen, all in God’s time. Many times, and because of this, we miss God's best. Timing is everything. Yes, you may have to knock. You'll have to put forth the effort. I'm a believer in being aggressive and pursuing dreams but you don't have to force doors to open. You don't have to try to make people to like you. You don't have to talk yourself into it. If you'll be patient and wait for God's timing, he will give you the desires of your heart. Understand, what God orders, God will provide. What God gives birth to; God will always give you the grace to see it through. But when we birth things in our own strength out of God's timing then God is not obligated. There will be times in life where it's not happening as fast as you would like. You'll be tempted to try to force things to happen. Maybe in a relationship, the person you're thinking about dating isn’t good for you and down deep you know they're not good for you. They don't treat you with respect. But you're afraid that you might not meet anyone else. The one God promised you is in your future. Trust in Him! Have trust in your faith! The timing has already been determined. Now be patient and trust God to do it his way.
I learned a long time ago God doesn't need my help. He's got it all figured out. He knows the end from the beginning and the beginning to the end. All we have to do is trust Him. You don't have to try to force doors to open but know you may have to knock first. Just keep honoring God with your life by staying in peace, by trusting his timing and God will open doors that no man can shut. God will bring amazing people across your path. God will defeat your enemies and get you to where you're supposed to be. That's what it says in Psalms: 37:4 "When you delight yourself in the Lord, God will give you the desires of your heart.” There's a big difference between God giving you something and you having to work to make it happen. When we try to force things, we don't wait for God's timing, it's a constant struggle. It's a burden. We can't seem to ever get it off the ground. But if you'll let God, do it his way, in his timing, there'll be grace. There will be a rest. Yes, you'll have opposition. But you'll feel a strength and a peace from God's favor pushing you forward. Now do your part and rest. Trust God's timing. God knows what he is doing. We may not always understand why something is taking so long but sometimes God will delay an answer on purpose simply so he can show his power in a greater way.
I’ve learned a lot about the importance of trusting God’s timing in seasons of waiting. I also know that this is easier said than done. Sometimes it’s hard to see the reason for waiting. Personally, there are many things I’m still waiting on. And I really wish they would work out like yesterday. But I’m still waiting. If you’re in the same circumstance, I hope that this message will encourage you in waiting and help you to see that you can trust God in your waiting for God’s timing.
Finally, God is always on time. He’s not on our time but he’s on time. The Bible says that a day in God’s eyes is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. So, when you’ve been waiting for two years and it feels like forever, remember that two years is like seconds to God. He sees a much bigger picture than we see. Listen and you will hear God telling you that, “My child, you are worrying too much. Remember who I am. There is nothing too hard for me. You may not see it, but I have everything planned out for you, down to the last minute.”
It is my prayer for you that you’ll trust God’s timing because he’s never late. What is meant to happen will happen in the right time. I also pray that you are patient for that time, as well. Amen!
