Timing Is The Issue

How do you feel about things in your life that you don't have any control over? Do you believe that God is in control of your life and that nothing happens without Him allowing it? Are you always in a rush for time and not happy with events happening in your life? I was reading Matthew 8:29 when two words that I've read so many times before jumped in my spirit. In Matthew 8:28-29 we read that two demons possessed men were being delivered by the Lord when the demons in them shouted: “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”

I guess the word “appointed time” caught my attention because I find myself being frustrated about things that are not often working the way I would like them to. I also at times question the past that if things were done a certain way, life would have been better. I also complain about the amount of time it takes for certain things to get done by certain people. I at times complain about the Lord not saving my family members soon enough, giving me what I ask of Him early enough, and delivering me from my problems fast enough…. I have talked to people who I think are doing much better than I, in the worldly way of seeing things and life, who also complain about all types of life issues.

Now why do we commiserate in self pity and don't often accept our lot in life? Is it because we think that we deserve something better than our current situation? We already know by reading the Word of God that the loving Father doesn't like complainers. This is one of the reasons the Israelites spent forty years in the wilderness. There are many more examples in the bible that should put us on guard against complaining. He didn't like Jonah murmuring about the work he has to do in warning the Ninevites because he didn't like them. The Lord didn't like Martha talking about Mary sitting at his feet listening to his teachings.

Do we ever think that by complaining and murmuring about where we are in life we are insulting the Holy God. Do we ever think that if we say He is in control of our lives that He is also involved in all past, present and future events concerning us? Doesn't the word say in Matthew 6:25-33 not to worry about what we will eat, drink or wear because our Holy Father knows that we need all that. If we have a loving father that dies for us in order for us to be like Him, don't we think that He can also give us all things needed in this life and, in addition, an eternal life with Him in the future.

So what should we do? What should we do when negative thoughts bombarding us caused us to become ungrateful toward the Father? We should learn to cast down every imagination and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of the Most High God (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). As we read in Ecclesiasts 3:1 “To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven”. The awareness that there is a time for everything to happen in life as we continue reading in verses 1-8 of Ecclesiasts 3 should give us hope that we are not pilgrims on earth without a cause when we are children of God. Everything that has been planned from the beginning of the world is evolving the way the Father allows it to be.

God knows all about you and knows all things. Nothing is hidden from Him. He knew when you would be born, what century, what family you would be born into, where you would live, who you would marry, the choices you would make in life etc…(Acts 17:24-28). There was an appointed time for Noah to build an ark to save his family and a pair of each of the created animal beings on this earth. At the appointed time, Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary and lived among men. He knew that He was going to die for the sins of the whole world when time was here (Matthew 26:18). At the appointed time the apostles received the Holy Spirit of God while in one accord in prayers and worship (Acts 2:1-4; Luke 24:49). Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 4:3 not to judge anything before the appointed time. At the appointed time the man of lawlessness will be revealed and the coming of the Lord will be manifested (2 Thessalonians 2:1-6). Also at the appointed time in our lives, what the Father promised will be manifested according to His perfect will. Only worship, pray, live in love and trust Him.

Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and obey it! (Luke 11:28)

Marie Monaus