“Time is money”, “Timing is everything”, “Only time will tell”. We are constrained by time yet we struggle with bending to its power over us. We are consumed with the idea of time. We are beings on a time limit so it makes sense that we are often worried about how much time we have left to do all the things we want in our lives. We try to stop time by taking pictures. We attempt to speed up time by rushing through things and seasons in our lives. Time is one thing at we cannot escape as finite human beings.
Time is apart of the human experience and our dissatisfaction with timing as well. There are many times in my life in the past and the present when I have thought okay God this would be the perfect time to give me what I’ve been praying for. I would be a lie if I said that every time that I heard the elders at church say that “God comes right on time” that I didn't sometimes disagree. Imagining that if the power were allotted to me that I would have done it a little differently is a common occurrence for me. Not understanding God’s timing is not a new age issue this has been long wrestled with. If we look at the early church in Acts we see John telling Theophilus and the church of what Jesus told the disciples after his resurrection. Here is the kicker as if seeing Jesus after being resurrected wasn't enough to put to rest all of their questions and anxiety, they have a question.
“Then they gathered around him and asked him, ‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’ “ (Acts 1:6)
Wow. After God manifest through the person of Jesus showed his power and perfection in timing through death and resurrection they are already moving on to the next issue in their minds. Timing. They want to know a timeline of when things are going to turn around for them and I understand it's easier to stay strong and hold on when you have a rough estimate of how long you’ll have to stay strong and hold on.
I think a lot of times we get in this mindset that God owes us a timeline. When he doesn’t share the full extent of his plan we are upset. If we think about it though he never promised to share with us His whole plan. He never promised to give us a timeline. He actually tells us the opposite. He says that his thoughts are not like ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). He wants us to trust him and not to try and control the situation. If we are being honest what Jesus said back to those that gathered around him after his resurrection is the same answer that he has for us today:
“He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.” (Acts 1:7)
Jesus tells them in more words timing is above your security clearance. And sad to say it's above ours too.
I love the show Quantico. If you haven't heard of it it's a show about FBI and CIA training. Throughout the plot of the show there is a terrorist attack and the hierarchy of the agency is shown. The director knows things that regular agents are unaware of. The regular agents are given information on a need to know basis. If the regular agents were given the information that the director was given there would be mass chaos and mass hysteria. The agents though not knowing the full extent of all of the destruction are still able to function fully in their positions. Their lack of insight into all the detail does not hinder them from performing fully everything that they need to do.
We are the agents and God is the director. Being unaware of the timeline does not hinder us from following Jesus and being obedient. We don't get to know all the things that the director knows for good reason. I don't believe that we could actually handle knowing it all. Pride would tell us that we could but like usual pride would be wrong. We don't have the authority to know timing or to be in control of it for that matter. If you think about it though there are so many benefits to not being in control of timing and the future. We are able to rest and rely on God to take care of the perfect timing. If timing is above your security clearance that means that is one less thing that you have to worry or stress about. Trust that God knows what he's doing. You don't believe it? Look at the entirety of The Holy Bible. He shows time after time that he knows what he is doing and that he is always on time when he moves and works.
