God’s Timing

The Bible is filled with historical events where the people of God were told to wait for His direction, to stand still and wait for His salvation, to wait and let Him restore their strength. Most people don’t like to wait. We want what we want — right now. 

The New Testament has fewer instances of the word, yet the idea of waiting on God is repeated. Jesus told His disciples to stay in Jerusalem and “wait for the promise of the Father” meaning the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:4). Christians are to wait also for the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:25) and of course the return of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:7, 1 Thessalonians 1:10).

Why do we have to wait? Could not God do things immediately and when we think we need them done? Today’s devotional points out that God waits also. He knows exactly the best time to do His work.

Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. (Isaiah 30:18)

Yesterday, my sister rejoiced in God’s timing. Her husband was looking for a particular coin that had been in a certain drawer for years. It was missing. She remembered that the drawers got shuffled when a new floor was installed, so started searching in the other nearby drawers. She found the coin, but she also found some old documents. When sorting them, she realized his passport had expired. Since they are travelling in March, this was a timely find. He was able to apply for a renewal that same day.

We laughed at the way God does things. Had the coin not been on my brother-in-law’s mind, the passport expiry may not have been discovered until prior to boarding, too late for the trip. God waited to make sure this detail of life was noted, not too soon, but also not too late.

He is like that. He made the Israelites wait for their freedom until He convinced Pharaoh to let His people go. They were impatient, but His timing was perfect. He waited until Haman built a scaffold to hang Mordecai before the king found out this Jewish man had saved his life, so gave Haman the noose instead . God also waited until Peter’s execution was eminent before sending an angel to release this disciple from prison. His people might want things “right now” but God’s timing is always perfect.

Ten years ago, the valve in my heart was not an issue. Yesterday the heart clinic discovered that now it is an issue. I wonder about the timing. Could not I have had a “routine echocardiogram” five years ago? Why now, when it has caused irreparable damage? I’ve some ideas about His reasons for this timing, yet who can fully understand the mind of God? He has a plan and is never too early or too late. 

Instead of spending a lot of energy wrestling with “why” I have decided to focus on obedience and His promises. He waits to be gracious to me. He exalts Himself to show mercy to me. He is a God who is just and blesses all who wait for Him. He also says, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). One day I will know why God waited; this day I am content to wait.

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Lord, I am almost always aware when Your people are praying for me. I have this overwhelming sense of peace, a feeling of great contentment. Rationally, it makes little sense. I think that I should be stewing or anxious or distressed, but instead, I feel like a weaned child happily sitting in its mother’s lap. Today is a new day. Because Your timing is perfect, I’m trusting You to guide me in what I do today, knowing Your timing is perfect. By waiting on You, I can use the resources You have given me in such a way that You are glorified. Thank You for being so gracious to me.

A few steps closer

On my visit to the ER January 27, my hiccupping heart required electrical shock to get it beating normally. They put something into the IV on my arm that made me “feel sleepy” so I shut my eyes, then opened them. The procedure was done!

When describing this to a friend, she said, “That is what it will be like when we die, you know.” I think she could be right. We close our eyes in this place and open them in the presence of Jesus. 

Today’s devotional reading is about this walk with God from life here to life in eternity. It takes thoughts from two verses about Abraham. In the first, Abraham began by obeying the Lord. He left everything he knew and followed as the Lord led him.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. (Genesis 12:1)

The next verse describes the end of his life. This man of faith was taken to his real home and his real kindred.

Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. (Genesis 25:8)

The devotional reading is from Alexander Maclaren’s lovely words about life here and life there. He reminds me that each believer is called away from this world to a new citizenship. With that comes a vague or even a sharp sense of isolation. However, that will be over when we get to our real home. Here is what he said:

After all communion we dwell as upon islands, dotted over a great archipelago, each upon his little rock with the sea dashing between us; but the time comes when, if our hearts are set upon that great Lord whose presence makes us one, there shall be no more sea and all the isolated rocks shall be parts of a great continent.… If we cultivate that sense of detachment from the present and of having our true affinities in the unseen, if we dwell here as strangers because our citizenship is in heaven, then death will not drag us away from our associates nor hunt us into a lonely land, but will bring us where closer bonds shall knit the “sweet societies” together, and the sheep shall couch close by one another because all gathered round the one Shepherd. Then many a tie shall be re-woven, and the solitary wanderer meet again the dear ones whom he had “loved long since and lost awhile.”

These poignant thoughts touch me deeply today. I went to one of the finest heart hospitals in the world and had tests and an examination by a cardiologist. He told me that my childhood Rheumatic Fever left me with a leaky mitral valve, which I knew. It seemed well when tested a few years ago, but since then that leak has caused the atrium to be excessively enlarged, which is very likely the cause of my a-fib hiccups. This failure to properly pump the blood can be assisted with medications, but it cannot be fixed.

What does this mean? It means that my walk with Jesus Christ involves a reality --- this life is short, a mere blip on the time continuum. It means that I must cultivate that sense of detachment from this present world and firmly fix my affinity on the unseen. I have a promise from God that the Bible calls a future hope and home that has been guaranteed by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It means also that my home-going will likely be heart related. 

This assessment was given to me 2-3 hours ago. At first, I felt shocked, but instead of those stages of grief (such as denial, anger and bargaining), I began thinking about two verses. One is an anchor that gives me comfort, a verse that I memorized years ago and have thought of often in the past month.

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:26)

The second verse is about death, dying, and how people grieve. I learned this verse after my first experience at a Christian funeral. It was an amazing and joyful celebration. Yes, those left behind were sad “because we miss him” but so glad that “he is in a most marvelous place.”

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. (1 Thessalonians 4:13)

Christians grieve, but not the crying and wailing that go with an uncertain future. I am grieving that my health is not going to improve. I even feel tearful and sobered. I did not expect this. Yet there is an amazing inner peace, even joy. What is that? It can only be the Lord Jesus Christ who is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

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Oh Lord, I expected the doctor to suggest a procedure that would fix the erring electrical impulses. Last I knew, that leaky valve was so insignificant that the radiologist could hardly see the problem. This change in status is a surprise for me, but not for You. You gave me Psalm 73:26 long before the heart hiccups started. You gave me assurance of a heavenly home when You first came into my life. And today, You had a devotional in place to remind me that my true residence is not here, but with You and Your people in eternity. I don’t know what is next, but I’m certain of one thing: You have a path for my feet and will guide me each step of the way.

Pressing on to know God

Known to be an “information gatherer” I love it when people ask me to look up something for them. Search engines are my friend. My Logos 4 Bible program with its incredible search features allow me to look up topics from more than a thousand resources. Gathering data and doing research could occupy my entire day if I didn’t have other responsibilities. 
 

With that mindset, when I became a Christian, I wanted to know everything about God. I read the Bible cover to cover many times, and filled stacks of notebooks with devotional and study thoughts. However, I’ve learned something during these years; knowing facts about God is not the same as knowing God.

Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth. (Hosea 6:3)

I’ve met a few famous people, shook their hand or ate at the same table. But do I know them? Hardly. Knowing someone involves spending time with them, but it also involves their willingness to open up themselves to me. I might observe a well-known author eat steak and refuse garlic toast, but unless he tells me he is a celiac, I only know what I observe. Unless he says how much he misses eating bread, I will not know anything about this person’s particular desires and struggles.

Knowing God is a bit like that, except that God is not like us. The attitudes of His great heart are pure and filled with love for His people. He sacrificed His Son that we might have eternal life. He works both in the background and in the foreground to shower blessings on us. He takes care of our needs, forgives our sins, heals our diseases, bidding us to walk and talk with Him. Yet God is a mystery, a Spirit that we cannot see or touch. How can we really know Him?

I’ve learned that God does not do anything to make Himself known to those who are not interested. As Hosea says, He wants His people to press on to know Him, make an effort, make ourselves open to Him. Since He is Spirit and communicates to us through His Book and His Spirit, how then can this be a two-way relationship?

Part of pressing on to know God is being open to what others have discovered in their pursuit to know Him. Books like The Pleasures of God by John Piper and The Existence and Attributes of God by Stephen Charnock and a score of others have given me insights into this God that I serve, insights that these men gleaned through their experience of Him. This then is key to truly knowing Him; through our experiences with Him. 

When I was a new Christian, I had a bill that had to be paid and no money. The Bible says that God will take care of our needs, so I prayed. God supplied money to pay that bill in a totally unexpected way. From that point until today, I’ve never doubted that God will supply all my needs. The Bible says that He will, and I thought that He would when I prayed, but from my experience with Him, I really know it.

Every attribute of God is described in His Word. I believe Him when He says He knows the number of hairs on my head, yet when every day He directs me to exactly what I need to read or know or remember about Him for that day, then I know that He is deeply interested in the details of my life.

The Bible says Christians are to walk by faith, not by sight. That is true. We do not ask God to prove that He cares by doing this or that. We believe that He cares, and when we believe and press on to know Him, He shows His care in lovely and unexpected ways. He reveals the unseen truth so that we might know Him better. As we walk and talk with Him, He opens His heart to us.

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Lord, I was going to go on a rant today about a certain cult that thinks it is Satan who answers the prayers of Christians, but You remind me that this is not about my smarts and their stupidity. It is about truly knowing You, something that is impossible to those without faith. Even as I wrote that sentence, I remember that my faith is also a gift from You, given by grace to sinners such as I. Without You, what would I know or think about spiritual things? I would be no wiser than anyone else.

You are an amazing God, full of mercy and kindness, able to take care of every need. As I press on to know You, You continually make Yourself known to me. This is a mystery, and amazing, and I am totally grateful that You allow Yourself to be known.

Mark of a Genuine Christian

Last week I asked about a person who was brought in to give advice and counsel in our church. The one that I asked replied with the other person’s professional qualifications. I interrupted and said, “But is he godly?”

We have all met “intellectual idiots” and people who are over-qualified for their job, yet inept. We all also know what it is like to have a good knowledge or ability in one area of our lives and totally fail in another. When it comes to being a Christian, everyone has an idea about what that should look like, but the Lord is only interested in one thing: obedience.

Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. (1 John 2:4–6)

The criteria or standard for being a Christian and knowing that I am a Christian is always Jesus. Do I walk as Jesus walked — and that does not mean “on water” but in grace, humility and the power of the Holy Spirit?. It is said of Jesus that He went about doing good. He helped people in need, not all of them for some were sponges looking for freebies, but those truly needy. Do I do that?

Do I talk like Jesus talked? That does not mean what others might call “always the right words” but it does mean speaking the truth in love, even if the truth hurts and even if I don’t feel particularly loving. Jesus said what people needed to hear. This includes the beggars and blind people, but also the self-righteous Pharisees who mocked Him. Can I speak that way? Or do I fudge when it comes to opening my mouth?

Do I think like Jesus thought? This  might be a taller order than walking and talking. All that Jesus did came from the attitude of His heart. He was obedient, but not out of fear or a desire to make His mark in the world. He did everything He did because He considered others more significant than Himself. 

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. (Philippians 2:3–9)

In my Christian walk, it is easier to compare myself with someone else than line up beside Jesus. I can always find another person who falls short and who might make me look better than I am, but even the thought of doing such a thing puts me down several notches on the scale. Jesus was not into comparing Himself with others. He obeyed God without any thoughts of how He might appear in the estimation of His friends or His critics. 

To say that I am a Christian and then ignore the standard of life set by Jesus Christ is a mockery of the faith. Because He lives in me, something of Him ought to shine through. If it doesn’t, His Word says that I am a liar, and someone so full of myself that I will not allow God to govern me. 

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Every day brings challenges to obedience. It may be what seems like small things, like speaking graciously to a telephone salesperson. It may seem more important, like listening to a friend in trouble. Whatever comes my way today, help me remember that I not only belong to You, but that You set the bar for how You want me to respond. Because You live in my heart, and because the world needs to see You, help me be obedient to do what You ask and keep my selfish self out of Your way.