58. TRUSTING GOD’S TIMING. (Galatians 4:4)

This verse tells us to trust God’s timing. Often not easy to do, but, if we are patient, it always turns out perfectly “When the right time came God sent His Son.” God doesn’t consult us to make sure His plans line-up with our timetable. No! He sets the schedule; sometimes we have to run to keep up, and at other times we have to slow down to keep in step with Him. Mary planned to marry Joseph and then have a child, but God had a different plan. The child had to be without inherited sin, so He needed a perfect father; therefore, The Holy Spirit was called on to do the job. Humanly speaking, the timing couldn’t have been worse, Mary became pregnant before she was married, And Joseph wasn’t the Father. Besides being ostracised, the Law said she could have been stoned to death. How did she respond? Amazingly! Then she replied, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord, Let it be done to me according to thy word.” (Luke 1:38.God has a set plan and He is always working towards it. The trouble is, we are only working with limited information, so we become impatient and upset when He doesn’t answer our prayers when we think He should, OR in the way we think He should. It is said that George Muller a great evangelist and founder of the Ashley Down Orphanage in Bristol England. Once waited on the dock for a special chair to be delivered, he had a bad back and needed the chair for his ocean voyage. When departure time came and it still hadn’t arrived, his friend offered to buy him one. But Muller said, “Either God will provide, or He will give me the grace to do without.” Then just like a Hollywood ending, the chair arrived right on time! Trust God He knows what He’s doing. In Isaiah 46:11 We read “What I have said, that will I bring about.” God has a plan for our lives that requires certain things to happen at a particular time. And He sees the big picture, whereas you and I who are working with limited information, must learn to trust Him – even when we don’t see how things will come together. God can take the loss of a spouse, a child, a job or a property and make it work out for our good. The trouble is while He is doing all this, we are feeling uncomfortable and sometimes downright miserable. Seven hundred and eighty two years before the birth of Jesus, the Prophet Micah said that He would be born in Bethlehem (see Micah 5:2.) but Mary and Joseph were living in Nazareth. So how did God solve the problem? The Roman emperor Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken. That meant everyone had to return to their own ancestral towns to register for the census. Now, because Joseph was a descendent of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, which was David’s ancient home. Joseph took Mary with him and they went from the village of Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem quite a distance especially for Mary who was well on in her pregnancy. And in fact the time for her delivery was imminent and she gave berth to her firstborn son (Luke 2:3-7) Are you worried about your future? “Don’t be impatient for the Lord to act! Keep travelling along His path and in due season He will honour you with every blessing”(Psalm 37:34) Isn’t it interesting how, as we get older we become more patient, even though we have less time left!!! Why is that I wonder? Perhaps it’s our perspective! Our problems haven”t changed that much but our perspective has. Things that once upset us don’t any more, because we’ve lived long enough to know ‘His grace is sufficient (see 2 Corinthians 12:9). Once you realise that it’s no big deal – and most things aren’t – you can say “Been there, done that!” instead of fretting and complaining, which doesn’t work anyway and steals our joy, We’ve learned to sing and believe, “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” We have learned to understand that God’s timing is the only way that works. Are you still a bit anxious and concerned about what the future holds for you? Don’t be, relax, the God who arranged for His Son to be born in to the right family, at the right time, in the right place is looking out for you today. Let Him see that you trust Him. Nothing is impossible for God, He has the answer to our every situation. Have you ever thought, if God told us all His plans for us,what would we do? We would give Him what we think was a better, faster and easier way to do it!! But, He sees the whole picture, we don’t. Like another Joseph in the book of Genesis, I’m sure, you can look back to times in your life when you thought you’d never come through a particular situation, or the current mess you happened to be in, in fact, you thought you’d never survive, and be able to say, “You meant it for evil against me: but God meant it for good.” (Genesis 50;20) Yes perspective produces patience: “We can rejoice… When we run into problems and trials, for we know they are good for us they teach us to be patient and patience develops strength of character… and helps us to trust God more each time we use it, until finally our Hope and Faith are strong and steady and we are able to hold our own no matter what happens, we will know all is well because we have learned to accept and understand God’s love for us, “Because He has given us The Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love” (Romans 5:3-5) We are always on God’s mind He never stops thinking of us even for a second. He loves us too much to let anything separate us from Him and His love for us. What a glorious place to be, always on God’s mind! When I first really understood about God’s Timing, my life, my attitude and my perspective changed from almost fatalistic to joyous expectation, I hope you too have that great experience. Thank you for reading my thoughts on this subject, I pray God’s Grace, Peace and blessings on us all. Phaline.