*Divine Timing Is Best*

Sometimes we humans are in an     inordinate rush to have things done. We may have been praying over some issues which (in our view) may be taking far too long before coming to pass. We become frustrated, discouraged and dejected. We imagine we have reached the end of our tether and just cannot take any further delay. We even start to doubt whether God really listens to our prayers, or if he is even concerned about the mundane affairs of puny man. He seems quite remote, aloof and inured to our struggles and the need for him to intervene in our situation like yesterday! In this whole matter of waiting upon God, the Apostle Paul at one time despaired even of life itself! But, is it true that Elohim is far removed from our everyday worries, concerns and fears? Is he merely watching distractedly from some lofty unreachable throne somewhere high in the deep blue heavens?! The simple and emphatic answer to that question is a resounding NO! Far from it, in fact his word tells us that His thoughts about each of us are as abundant as the sands on the seashore (cf Psalm 139:17-18)! Said the Apostle Paul: "...do not be anxious for anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God..." (Philippians 4:6). Yahshua too, entreated: "... come to me all you who are weary and heavily laden..." (Matthew 11:28-29).

So then, how are we to understand Elohim's apparent "aloofness"  in view of the speed with which we would all like him to swing into action and with all haste execute deliverance, assistance and much needed help in our affairs?! Why does he not quickly straighten out the tortured, corrugated, winding lengths of time in which we sometimes have to wait before he "does something"?! Well, we will attempt to address this issue in this brief piece.

God Almighty stepped out of (if the reader will allow me the latitude to coin the term) "eternity past", and created Time (cf Genesis 1:5). In His infinite wisdom, He segmented this phenomenon into hours, days, weeks, months and years (cf Genesis 1:14-15). Since he is Omnipresent (occupying all space and time), He is able to order all things to accurately align with his divine purposes. He therefore has created a time for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). Furthermore, not only that, but God has also: "...made everything BEAUTIFUL IN ITS TIME..." (Ecclesiastes 3:11, first part, emphasis added). The juicy tropical fruit papaya, is undoubtedly one of the sweetest fruits available for our enjoyment, as most of us can attest. However, those with a bit of experience in matters papaya will quickly tell you that the fruit is best left untouched until it attains full maturity before anyone advances any gastronomical agendas on it! Dear reader, you ignore this piece of advice at your own peril!

It behoves us therefore, difficult though this may seem, to try and understand TIME from God's perspective rather than ours. For the Omnipresent One (simultaneously inhabiting the Past, Present and the Future), TIME is but a very tiny, miniscule segment of ETERNITY. God created Time purely for our use, not his, because he already occupies all of it! Said the Apostle Peter: "...But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that ONE DAY is with the Lord, as a THOUSAND YEARS, and a THOUSAND YEARS as ONE DAY." (2 Peter 3:8, KJV, capitals supplied). Whew! How is that for perspective?! So you have been patiently waiting upon the Lord for... two, six, ten years? A very long wait, patiently borne you say, huh? But wait a minute, just how many seconds, or minutes, or hours - is that timespan as computed from on high?! No my brother/sister, He has not forgotten you, neither is he insulated against your prayers! It is just that for Him, the right time to answer your prayers has not yet come. Says Isaiah the ancient prophet: "...in the time of MY FAVOUR, I will answer you..." (Isaiah 49:8). See? It is about the divine, as opposed to the human perspective. If you think you have waited for far too long, why not ask Abraham who was promised a son at the advanced age of seventy five, but still had to wait a quarter of a century before God's promise came to pass! Why not ask Isaac who married at the age of 40, but still had to wait for two long decades before experiencing the joy of fatherhood? And did not Israel wait for four hundred years under cruel Egyptian bondage before God could deliver them out of the "iron smelting furnace..."? Apparently, it had to take that long for the sin of the Amorites to fill the cup of divine wrath (Genesis 15:16). For Adonai needed first to judge the Canaanites, before handing over their land to the children of Jacob.

Let us not take shortcuts, as did Sarah, who convinced her husband that Elohim needed "helping" in fulfilling his promise for a son. She advised Abraham to take the handmaid Hagar, and through the maidservant get a son for herself. Well, the consequences of that unfortunate lapse in judgment are there for all of us to see today. You see, it was Hagar who bore Ishmael into Abraham's household. The Bible has no kind words for this wild and coarse character. It says: "...he will be a WILD DONKEY of a man. His hand shall be against everyone, and everyone's hand against him..." (Genesis 16:12). How very accurate have these prophetic words turned out to be! Are not the children of Ishmael the high priests of the global terror architecture today? Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Muslim Brotherhood,  Al Harakat al Mujahedin, Hamas, ISIL, Al - Shabaab, Abu Sayaf, Janjawid, Boko Haram, Taliban, etc. What is the common denominator amongst all the above terror outfits? They are all closely linked with Ishmael's progeny. How different would today's geo-politics probably be if Sarah had allowed for divine timing?!

The story of Hezekiah king of Judah would also seem to be cautioning us against insisting on our own way. Good King Hezekiah had had a long fruitful life as Judah's sovereign. He was now ailing and at the tail end of his tour of duty here on earth. So God sends Isaiah son of Amoz to the king with a terse message: "...put your house in order, for you shall not survive this illness..." (2 Kings 20:1). What is Hezekiah's reaction? He turns on his bed to face the wall and weeps bitterly! He cites his excellent record as king of God's people. Amid many tears, the monarch pleads with God for more time to live, cannot see why he should die, just yet. So the prophet is sent to him yet again: "...I have seen your tears..." (2 Kings 20:5). A further fifteen years are then added unto Hezekiah's life span. Royal prayer answered. However, in those fifteen years, things go horribly wrong for this hitherto darling of Heaven. First, the king fails to glorify God for healing him when an ambassage from Babylon comes visiting, to condole with him. What does he do instead? He takes them on a grand tour of his magnificent palace boastfully laying bare before  foreign eyes his vast riches in gold, gemstones, precious fragrances, ivory, costly woods, etc. Again, Adonai sends the prophet Isaiah to rebuke the king for his unmitigated folly.  Isaiah reveals to him that indeed the Babylonians, having "cased the joint" would be back for the looting!
Secondly, in the third year of Hezekiah's additional fifteen years, the son Menashe was born into the royal household. As the fifteen years expired and the king died, the selfsame Menashe took over the Kingdom's reins from his father. He, Menashe was then aged twelve. The chapter detailing his tenure at the helm is one of the saddest in the entire Bible. Menashe ruled for a long time (55 years) and in those years, he could not have sank Israel any deeper into the cesspool of idolatry! He introduced numerous heathen pantheons into Israel. All manner of graven images and altars were set up in Jerusalem. Idols in adoration of the sun, moon and the starry host were set up even in the holy temple itself! Menashe went so far as to even burn his own son in the fire as sacrifice to Molech, the detestable, bloodthirsty demon god of the Ammonites (cf 2 Kings 21:1-7)! Needless to say, Menashe's excesses played a very important role in bringing about Israel's unfortunate downfall. Had he not trodden down this rebellious path, maybe Isaiah's words that the Babylonians would come back to sack Jerusalem would not have been fulfilled.

The question therefore is, had Hezekiah known of this falling trajectory into idol worship that his yet unborn son would lead the nation into, would he have pleaded with Elohim for a longer life? Probably not.

So we see from the above examples that it is best to wait upon the Lord. Counselled King David: "...wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: Wait, I say, on the Lord." (Psalm 27:14). This same advice is given in numerous other scriptures (cf Lamentations 3:25; Psalm 130:5-6; Genesis 49: , etc).

The God of heaven says that he has good plans for those that wait upon him. Plans that include hope and a future (cf Jeremiah 29:11) Even in times of despair, it is best to remember that He has promised: "...I will never leave you, nor forsake you..." (Hebrews 13:5). Indeed, we only need await the fullness of Elohim's timing. He is neither too early, nor too late but just arrives on time. Since "...it is not in man, that walketh to direct his own steps..." (Jeremiah 10:23), it is best that we pray that his will for us aligns at the appointed times in our lives. When the angel called out to the patriarch Abraham on Mt Moriah, the patriarch was able to say: "... here I am." (Genesis 22:11). In other words, Abraham was in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing. He was in lockstep with God. That is what we too, ought to strive for. Blessings.

JK Changandu
Oloitoktok
21/09/2023