Perfect Timing (2)

Michael Jackson was supposed to be at a meeting at the top of the world trade center early in the morning on September the 11th, 2001 but his mother had kept him up so late talking on the phone the night before that he slept through his alarm and missed his appointment. Mark Wahlberg was supposed to fly back to L.A. on American Airlines Flight 11 that morning, but he and his friends changed plans last minute and flew to a film festival in Toronto instead. Seth MacFarlane missed the same flight because of poor choices made at the bar the night before. Lara Lundstrom was roller blading by the Hudson river when she decided to jaywalk and nearly ran into the car driven by actress Gwyneth Paltrow. As Lara was star struck by the moment, she missed her train to work by only a few seconds. Where did she work? On the 77th floor of the south tower. There are many other stories just like these which created close call life or death situations for people in regards to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. You could call this perfect providential timing.

However, there are thousands of other stories that could be told from that day that have a far more tragic outcome. But do you know what? These stories of demise have the same perfect timing as the stories of life do.

God’s timing is perfect. No matter the outcome or the situation.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break 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 cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.”

There is a time for everything. How many of you have your gardens out? There was a certain time to plant, was there not? Now in Arkansas it can be a little tricky because we have been having some late frosts the last couple of years, but we know when it is time to put our plants in the ground.

There is a mating season for all creatures, and oddly enough there is a hunting season for these creatures that coincides with this season of mating.

There is a time for changing your oil. There are even little lights that come on notifying you went to do so in some vehicles. Fun fact, if you do not change the oil in your lawnmower as well and you say “eh, it should be good”, you may end up buying a new mower because yours made a loud banging noise and refused to drive any farther. I won’t explain how I know that.

But everything in life has its own times, and its own seasons. The highs and the lows. The good times and bad. The easiest times, and the times you do not think that you can pull through. They all have times, and God has His hands in every single moment.

There are times and seasons in life and no one can ignore that fact. There is a season of being a child. The time where we are being nurtured by our parents and are innocent to the world.

There is a time of adolescence, you teenage years, where you learn far more than you should, and seem to grow with every turn of the corner. You are full of energy, ad ignorant decisions. Then you have the college years where you change friend groups, learn a little bit about life quickly, enter the college or job force scene, and start trying to find out who you really are.

Then you have your career season. This where you settle into what you are going to support your family on and how you are going to prepare for your long awaited retirement.

Then you have your retirement years which, God willing, are full of the joy’s you have thought of while you were slaving away at your jobs throughout the career season.

What is interesting is that when you are young you are full of energy, full of time, but you do not have many resources. When you are middle aged you are young-ish, full of energy (kinda), you have your resources, but you are super busy and seem to lack time for anything extra. When you are seasoned you have your money and resources, you have your time, but you lack the energy to use it.

Seasons of life are different. I guarantee you that you can not run near as fast, nor jump near as high as you could have when you were a teenager. Seems kind of unfair does it not? When you are young you dream of all you can do with your life when you are older, but when you are older you just want to go back to your former self for a little while. That or at least harness some of the energy and drive.

But each season that we walk through God blesses us differently.

-When I was a child I was blessed to be brought up in a Christian family that loved and nourished me. I was blessed with a church family who taught me sound doctrine that I could fall back on.

-When I was a teen I was blessed with a good church youth group, you had your knuckle heads, but you also had a good support system. I was blessed with friends, and I was protect from people who would bring me ruin.

-When I went to college I gained knowledge, skills, and friendships that would carry me into my next season of life.

-I have been tremendously blessed here in Damascus, as the youth group has been blessed as well.

-And whatever comes in my future I know that I will be blessed in it as well because my God is good, and His timing is perfect.

Have you been blessed this week? We can all say that we have. We are alive, we have a roof over our heads, we have had food in our stomachs, probably too much, and we have people in our lives that love us. We are blessed.

I am going to call on a few people, including youth, so do not be bashful. If you won the lottery today, and were a millionaire tomorrow, what would you do with your money first? First thing that comes to your mind. [How many speak about investing, retirement, and savings?]

God has a timing, and it is not mine. God has a timing, and it took me a while to understand this. When I was young, I wanted a house, a wife and a couple of kids. As I grew older I would tell myself “there is no way you will be unmarried by the time you are 22.” 22 being the typical age an 18 year old would leave a 4 year college. Not only was I not married at 22, but I did not have a bachelor’s yet either. It was years before I finished my undergraduate, and here I am at 28 and still unmarried. Getting closer, but God has His timing. It took me a while to understand this.

If God hurries His blessings, and you receive them before you are ready to accept them, then your blessings will quickly turn to heartache and missed chances. As a man we think we are mature when we are the age of 16-18, but we really understand that that is foolish, and we mature later on in life. What if God sent you your wife in a time of immaturity? Would she have stuck around? Maybe, maybe not. If she did it would have made things more difficult. What about some of your jobs? If God would have allowed you to step into your careers at the wrong point in your life would you have been able to keep said job? If God would have given me some of my blessings when I was younger, I would not have been able to appreciate and fulfill the blessings, and I am sure you are in the same way. God has perfect timing on when and why He decides to bless us.

God gives us blessings when we need them, but God also gives us blessings when we can handle them. His timing is perfect. Never too late, and never too soon.

But season’s are difficult to navigate sometimes. We have times of loss and struggle, which brings on seasons of mourning and uncertainty. But then we have times of growth and peace which brings on seasons of joy, and comfortability. We have times of trials, which brings struggles, but if we triumph it brings periods of success and prosperity. We also have seasons of trials that when we fail brings us seasons of grief and sorrow, but certainly lessons.

Whatever season we may be in, we know that God has the season in control. Even the messy ones. But there is one thing we must know. There is a difference between understanding that God is in control, and finding comfort in the fact that He is in control. I have always known that God is in control, but I worry. I have always known that God is in control, and I still have anxieties. I have always known that God is in control, but that did not stop me from trying to steer my own future from time to time. Jesus said in Matthew 6:27 “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

It does not do any good. God has His times, He has His seasons, and they are going to be what they are going to be. Worrying will not shorten them, but only make them feel longer.

We do have some control. When we face tests, if we remain faithful and succeed, then we can avoid a time of chastisement. If we are facing mourning we can think of heaven and just what our loved ones are experiencing at the moment, we will miss them, but we can take comfort knowing that we will be with them before we know it. You can avoid seasons of hard lessons by staying on top of things and not being slothful, and the list can go on and on.

God knows what you need, and He knows when you need it. Some things in life we need immediately, and He provides. Some things He knows we do need, and He has a time that they will arrive to you and I. God will not bring His blessings before the most appropriate time for your life. If God has not given you what you need yet, then the timing is not right. So remember this while you guys wait. If God gave you what you want now, it will ruin you, and He loves you too much to do that. When the timing is right to bless your life in the greatest possible way, He will bring His blessing.

Do not rush the hand of God. Be patient, follow His guidance, and remain faithful. God will work everything together for your good in the His perfect time-frame.