Timing Is Everything… or maybe not!
I don’t want to grow up! It’s too hard! It’s not fair! But I NEED—–! Those people YOU sent me!
I admit it… I threw a tantrum this week. A better description would be a hissy fit. But nobody knew… well, that’s not true… God knew. And this is where He took me.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 There is an appointed time for everything.
Yessiree… And I know it very well… in fact I (humbly) demand to appoint the time for everything to do with me (and some of my especially good friends)…
Not so fast! The time IS already appointed… Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Created in perfection… Genesis 1:31 God saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good.
Genesis 1: 26-28 Then God said, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; …God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
God created and gave to man… If God had His way, perfection would have remained. But man ruled…
Man chose (ladies, don’t be offended because we were right there cheering him on)… the earth-shaking event of wanting to be god of their own life.
Yes, Adam & Eve were tempted (as I am by the torture of not being allowed to have and be all that I COULD BE). They were lied to (just as I disguise my sin of self-concern with prayer-like requests for mercy… sympathy… justice… and just to be sure God’s aware of my intent… the full explanation of my individual situation.)
Because of our sin… our attempt to replace God… there is a now a time… in the future… for God’s hope. Romans 8: 19-22 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God (those who live and thrive in His image). For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope (got that? HOPE not PUNISHMENT) that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption (self rule) into the freedom of the glory (our inheritance) of the children of God. For we know that the whole of creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
We wanted a “do over”… another chance to live in paradise… a time with no consequences… But creation demanded that There is an appointed time for everything.
Unfortunately, the wages of our sin was/is death so our appointment would have been with death… But God… who does not wish for any to perish… chose hope. God chose, not to destroy creation but to offer His plan to save His creation… He chose an appointed time for SALVATION of everything… Romans 8:28-30 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
What then shall we say to these things?
A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace.
If God is for us? Who can be against us? Sometimes WE are the ones against us as when God called me out… “You only want the people who make you feel wonderfully smart and witty. You only want the easy peasy path to health, wealth, and wisdom. And when do you want it? NOW…
You do the math… ”
Life Lesson #1… Timing Is Everything…
Life Lesson #2… Your Timing stinks…
Life lesson #3… Everything owes its life and breath to My Timing… God saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
He has hope for us… He is our hope!
Now, about my tantrum… I stopped the screaming, but I have to admit I may still be pouting. When I am sent to sit in the corner to “contemplate” the truth, I may be sitting on the outside BUT STANDING UP on the inside. No matter how much I want to be a “good girl” and “make my Daddy proud of me”, I am by nature a PERFECT child. One who challenges the best parenting practices known to mankind, one who demands surrender to all of my demands, the one who sobs for hours from the pain of life on the playground, and the one who fears that she will be abandoned for all her wicked ways. Life and it’s timing, as displayed in Ecclesiastes, can be both wonderfully challenging and desperately dangerous to the PERFECT child…
Why did the Holy Spirit lead me here this week? “Timing Is Everything”… Probably for many reasons not the least of which is confession, but I suspect that He knew that when my tantrum as the PERFECT child was over, I was going to need the comfort of being a perfect CHILD… Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil…
My PERFECT DADDY… who will not, no, cannot give up on me because… He IS LOVE and LOVE NEVER FAILS. No matter how much or how many times my nature rebels against Him and His training, my nature, and the nature of every other created thing on this planet, doesn’t win… In every moment of every day… Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death, not life, nor angels, nor principalities, not things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our LORD.
Though I may not always “look pretty” doing it… or I do it in the midst of a full-on tantrum… or with the maturity of the spoiled brat I sometimes am… this one thing I do:
Philippians 3:13 …forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
I was just thinking… maybe God gave me the gift of encouragement because I NEED it so often. And maybe He calls me to the Ministry of Encouragement because I have so much experience RECEIVING it.
And this is how my tantrum (and it’s timing) can be pertinent to a blog about encouragement… in case you were wondering.
Just a thought…
**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB version of the Bible