God’s Perfect Timing . . .

 

READ Joshua 13–16

This week my husband golfed with a man who is eighty plus years old and cycles 40 kilometers (about 25 miles) a day. Sometimes stories like this are encouraging; sometimes they fill me with dismay. I’m happy if I can walk 30 minutes a day, or about 7000 steps. That is a mere 3.5 miles. This golfing senior makes me feel old!

Well, I am old. This morning I woke up with a slow pulse, feeling sleepy, and wanting to stay in bed. Habit and discipline won over those feelings and I made it to my desk to read this:

Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the Lord said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess. (Joshua 13:1)

Joshua and Caleb survived forty years wandering in the wilderness and were the only two that made it to the promised land from the original group that left bondage in Egypt. Caleb said this: “And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming . . . .” (Joshua 14:9–12) It seems likely that Joshua was likely eighty-five also when the Lord told him he still had work to do, battles to fight.

Before reading Joshua, I read Scotty Smith’s prayer for today, and the last line became my prayer too. It said, “May Your voice be ten times louder than the murmurings around me and the grumblings inside me.” After chuckling at God’s timing and adding the words from Joshua, what battles do I still need to fight, not for land or against the evils out there, but for victory over sinful habits and selfish attitudes?

I could start the list with grumblings inside me, the ‘poor me’ focus so easily taken when this body hurts, or life doesn’t go the way I wanted, or when people are thoughtless or even mean to me and to others.

Another battle is my fight against putting off or avoiding things I know I should do and instead allowing myself to be side-tracked. Sometimes it is sheer laziness, taking advantage of doing very little ‘just because I can’ rather than being proactive and taking the initiative when others are in need. God’s voice actually is ten times louder than my complaining, but also louder than my excuses.

And lest I let this list become another way to stay self-focused, the Lord gives me a few ideas. I could make my hubby’s favorite foods for supper, instead of looking for the easiest recipes. I could call a friend who hinted that she was needing me to call. I could finish a quilt for that special person that needs one. I could spend a few minutes in prayer thanking God for those things that I grumble about and praising Him for His power to use them in my life, all because . . .

I know that for me, who loves God, all things work together for good because He called me according to his purpose. He knew ahead of time that He would conform me to the image of his Son . . . then called me, justified me, even glorified me in Christ. What then shall I say to these things? If God is for me, who can be against me? (Romans 8:28–31)

Self-pity is not allowed! As 2 Corinthians 4:7–18 says, I “have this treasure in a jar of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to me. I am afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in my body. I am always given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in my mortal flesh . . . . So I will not lose heart. Though my outer self is wasting away, my inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for me an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as I look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

My battles are not like Joshua’s literal wars, but the promise is the same . . . Joshua 1:8–9 (personalized) says when I focus on His Word and let it rule my mouth and my mind as well as my actions, then I will enjoy spiritual prosperity and success. God commands me to be strong and courageous, not frightened, or dismayed at how fast the days fly by, for He, the Lord God, is with me wherever I go.