God Speaking

“But I trust in you, O Lord; I say You are my God. My times are in your hands;…”

(Psalm 31:14 – 15)

One of the things I remember about my father was his obsession with time. Every clock in the house was checked every day to ensure it was portraying the correct time. His wrist watch could be trusted to always be accurate. He was always punctual, as to be late for any appointment would have been unthinkable for him. He also had lots of sayings about time which he would repeat to us children;

Time and tide wait for no man

Give it time

If you have time on your hands do something with it

Time is money

…and more…

Time, of course, is what we humans are controlled by and however hard we try we cannot make the clock slow down or go faster as the case may be.

I was thinking about the constraints of time last week as we are studying Genesis in our Home Group and have reached the story of Joseph. (Genesis 37 – 47) At seventeen Joseph is blessed by God to receive two startling dreams. We find out as we follow his story that he had to wait thirteen more years before they come to fruition, years that would shake anyone’s faith as he is sold as a slave, falsely accused of molesting, thrown into prison, forgotten for two years. What we learned from our study was that God’s timing for Joseph and for the future of Israel was perfect. What we all have to grasp is that God’s timing is always perfect.

Mankind has always been fascinated by time and the book of Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3 has spawned many songs about there being a “time for everything”

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

but the author, believed to be Solomon, really gets to the heart of the matter in chapter 8;

“Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure. For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,…” (Ecclesiastes 8:5 – 6)

But for many of us playing the waiting game, the proper time and procedure is sometimes hard for us to fathom. Then that is a good time to go back and look at God’s timing in Scripture. When we look at Joseph’s ordeal we see a phrase being recorded over and over, “the Lord was with him” as a slave to be sold, a servant wrongly accused, a prisoner unjustly imprisoned, yet at each stage of his life these beautiful words nullified the circumstances surrounding him and the triumphant outcome was God using Joseph in a mighty way to ensure that his chosen race would be preserved. We too can claim those words for ourselves, reminding ourselves daily that “the Lord is with us” while we wait for his timing.

Accepting God’s timing for our own lives brings about an incredible outpouring of peace no matter what we are deeply troubled by. Some of the most uplifting verses in Scripture talk about waiting upon the Lord, not running ahead, but seeking direction, not making quick decisions, being made wise by reading his word and speaking to him in prayer. Then we will be awed at how his perfect timing brings about that perfect peace that transcends all understanding.

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” (Psalm 27:14)