Monday, May 4, 2020
There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1
Timing Is Everything
Isn’t it funny how everything has a different meaning now than it did two months ago? A crisis changes many things in our lives, and we were all recently blindsided with a lot of change. Some people struggle with change when it happens gradually so imagine what so many major sudden changes can make them feel. Change is a natural part of life, but we don’t notice it as much when it happens naturally. It creeps into our lives over the weeks, months, and years and transforms us whether we want it to or not. Even though we fight it sometimes, change is not always bad.
Change is not Chance
God is in control and if we believe that, then we have to believe that He is in control of the hard times also. Whatever change comes our way, Good times and hard times are both a part of life and they provide balance. They are both part of what makes us who we are. The lesson in difficult times is often most valuable lesson we ever learn, and it gives us experience and wisdom to help others who experience the same thing. It provides opportunity to grow as well, and for God to open up our lives in new areas of ministry.
Sometimes God’s Timing is to Stand Still
Sometimes God’s timing just requires us to stand still – and wait. This is the hardest thing, especially when He calls us to do that in what seems like in a hopeless situation, but we strive to live with hope. We can go crazy during a time of waiting if we don’t strive to intentionally, over and over, focus on Him and put our full trust in Him. A time of waiting in our lives can look like a few days, waiting on a diagnosis from test results. It can also look like years – and seem like a lifetime. No matter the time frame, waiting is always a season and every season produces a harvest of some kind. Seasons of life are appointed time frames that have been allotted for something to happen which affects the future. We take some responsibility for what we reap from a season. We can choose the bad or choose to open our hearts to what God is teaching us. Even in a season of waiting for God to work in someone else’s life, He will not waste the chance to reap a harvest in our own hearts. He will work on us and teach us something every time if we are willing to surrender.
Time – seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years – once they are spent you cannot get them back. Time definitely means something different to us now: Time we spent with loved ones that we cannot see now, time wasted that we cannot get back, time put into a venture or business that now is closed. Time is a precious commodity and you can waste a life by wasting time, before you even realize what is happening. God uses all of time to prepare each life for eternity. That means all of the events of life being under His control makes every moment have an eternal impact.
So, whether waiting or moving or speaking or listening, God is using this moment and every moment of for His glory. Yes, even in quarantine.
