Perfect Timing part 3
One of my friends pointed out to me that God's timing is NOW. He's a NOW God. NOW faith is the substance of things hoped for. And I believe that. Absolutely. Everything we need has already been provided for us and it's available to us right now. All of the promises of God are yes and amen. But at the same time... Rome wasn't built in a day. As they say. That's why I always say, "If you want something different... do something different. Unless you're building something. In that case, stay the course." Hebrews 6:15 in the NLT says it like this, "Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised." And I'm not even going to get into the fact that on the surface Abraham DID NOT wait patiently, and in fact tried to obtain the promise through human effort. Because grace rewrote Abraham's story. God doesn't see the long and winding road it sometimes takes us to get where He wants us to go. He knows the end from the beginning and isn't worried about whatever else. The point I'm trying to make is: Patience is a virtue. Especially in the face of something that seems like a major setback. Or something that seems malicious. Remember where we left off yesterday? Joseph went from the pit to the penthouse. And he had this to say about it, "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive" (Genesis 50:20). He saw the bigger picture. And, listen, I understand that's really hard to do sometimes. Especially when the picture right in front of us looks bleak. But, as in Joseph's case, God is with us every step of the way. It's the same thing we see in Daniel's story. Even into the literal lions den. God will never leave us nor forsake us. What USUALLY ends up happening is when things go be WE forsake HIM. We get caught up in the moment and forget about the grand scheme. Again: Super easy to do. But not something we SHOULD do. Here's what I'm trying to say: "I look to you for help, O Sovereign LORD. You are my refuge; don't let them kill me. Keep me from the traps they have set for me, from the snares of those who do wrong. Let the wicked fall into their own nets, but let me escape" (Psalms 141:8-10 NLT). And, of course, I'm not saying we HAVE enemies anymore, or that we should wish for anyone's downfall. I'm simply saying we should trust in the Lord to do what He's going to do. We don't have to worry about what others do to us. Because it's all working together for good. We don't have to judge between good and evil. Because we're safe in our heavenly Father's out-streched arms. It's all good! We don't have to try to "fix" things. Or take the Kingdom by the violence of human effort. We can be patient. We can let the story unfold. We can trust that God's timing is perfect. And in the meantime, we can use everything that's available to us to get THROUGH what we're facing. We can remember that it came to PASS, not to stay. We can enjoy the ride, safe and secure in the knowledge that we HAVE already arrived. And the rest is just icing on the cake!