Timing ~
I have spoken and will bring it to pass. I have purposed and I will do it.
Isaiah 46:11
In seasons of life throwing unexpected and confusing events (which seem to be abounding everywhere, for everyone, right now) our safe place is found in resting on the word God has decreed about His purpose. His word never fails. It is the matter of timing we must learn and understand. Gods purpose. Gods timing. God’s ways.
In the declaration to Isaiah God says ‘My thoughts and ways are not yours’. This does not say we can not understand or have them. We are living in an hour that we, the people of God, need to hold fast and seek SPIRITUAL wisdom and understanding in the knowledge of His will.
Ecclesiastes reminds us ‘to everything under the sun there is a time and a season’. God has created all things for His purpose. We, as arrows in the hands of God, are used at his discretion and purpose.
As we consider biblical examples of peoples lives, we see repeatedly seasons of human preparation before climatic events. Everything and everyone grows and is nurtured unto His purpose so when the fulness of His time comes, we can step into the activities God has prepared.
Until the time that God’s word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested Joseph. A dream given, that took years to fulfill. Moses lives 40 years as royalty, missteps the timing of God, only to live another 40 being prepared in the backside of a desert in order to save a nation. Esther, living in captivity, is set and prepared by God to save her people. Jesus, himself, grew in wisdom, stature and in favour with God and man. Preparation time is never wasted time.
Our ability to pursue the process of preparation is the test we must face. It is the ‘rest’ we are to live in because our confidence is in the reality, that through the preparation, God is working all things together for His good.
He has spoken. It is impossible for God to lie. His word is true.
He will bring it to pass. My times are in His Hands.
He has purposed and He will do it. He actively watches over His word to perform it.
We find from from Isaiah forty two, the servant of the Lord does not grow faint nor is he discouraged while he is engaged in the establishment of Gods justice on the earth. My personal conviction is that weariness and discouragement settle in me the further I have allowed myself to be removed from the heart and mind of God. Confusion and frustration come only as my eyes and mind consider circumstances that are not fitting my picture. Somewhere in this consideration is the temptation to mis -judge God. Within wrong assumptions we embrace ‘lying vanities’ and we can find ourselves casting off restraints…evil hearts of unbelief causing us to depart from the living God. Discouragement is simply the loss of courage.
Found in Isaiah thirty, we are reminded not to turn aside to or seek other ways when we faced with circumstances we don’t understand.
In returning (we’ve left) and rest (from anxious activity) you shall be saved. In quietness and in trust shall be your strength.
Quietness and trust is not passivity. In no way does this position give us permission to be casual observers, spiritually disinterested or casting off restraints with the mindset that God is sovereign and there is nothing we can do. While it is true God is sovereign, you and I can never remove ourselves from the responsibility that continual trust in God is an absolute for us. The just shall live by faith, without this it is impossible to please Him. There must reside within our hearts, at all times, the reality that God is true. He is faithful. He has spoken it and He will do it. Without this, we can be accused of those who hold evil hearts of unbelief that depart from the Living God.
Quietness and trust are the strengths we must carry through this season. Hearts and minds stayed upon Him, finding His grace is sufficient in every situation. Whatever preparation God is working in this season, may we be found in this position of confidence in His purposes for our individual lives as well as the corporate purpose of His body at large. .
He’s the performer. I’m the believer.
He has purposed and He will do it. Our times are in His hands.