A Time For Everything

8/23/2023

Written By: Margie Davis

At 2:00 am on June 20, I got a phone call from my daughter telling me that her daughter (my granddaughter Aubrey) was at the hospital, and her baby was about to be delivered. Sounds like great news, right? YES! Except, the timing was wrong.

She had 12 weeks left of the expected 40 weeks gestation. Her blood pressure was very high, and it turns out they had no choice but to perform an emergency surgery to save both Momma and baby.

We couldn’t see anything but the emergent nature of that night for a day or two. Once the shock wore off and they both seemed to be doing well, we began to see the hand of God in truly miraculous ways.

When I was a single mom in 1993 I was desperate to find a house for my three children and I. It was tricky finding something in my price range. My realtor finally found a house on Jordan Drive in Franklin. It seemed perfect for us! I was pre-approved for the loan, and the payment was going to be less per month than most of the apartments I had been looking at.

Imagine my disappointment when the realtor (a brother in Christ) emphatically discouraged the purchase because the house was on a flood plain and insurance would be more than I could afford. I was disappointed, but I knew he absolutely had my best interest at heart. We moved to an apartment and went on with life.

Three years later, the man who lived next door to that house on Jordan Drive murdered a young college student name Kelly Eckart who was exactly the age of my own daughter. I always believed that God protected us when we didn’t get that house that I so desperately wanted at the time! God’s intervention and timing was at work way ahead of me!!

We are such an impatient lot, aren’t we? We have apps on our phones that count down the days to everything! Our need to know what’s going to happen next and WHEN it’s going to happen can be such a consuming force in our lives. I’ve always envied those “fly by the seat of their pants” people. And yet, frankly, they simultaneously annoy me.

I am a “get it over” with type of person. There is nothing more cathartic to me than marking things off of a “to do” list! Do you know where that “getting it over with” practice gets you? It gets you to age 65 and missing a lot of moments that weren’t ever on the list.

We instinctively know that both rushing through life and procrastinating are not ideal. What does the word of God say about timing?

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” When we realize that we don’t always get a “yes” or a “no” from God, but many, many times we get a “not yet,” a sense of peace will enable us to wait in confidence. Don’t rush ahead of Him.

Proverbs 27:1 “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.” We must begin each day realizing that it belongs to God, recognizing that He can change our plans in a blink of an eye if it benefits His Kingdom and glorifies Him. When we fight against that, we feel tension. Don’t attempt to take His place of controlling the outcome of every day!

2 Peter 3:8- “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” The way God sees time is very different than us, and obviously, His way is correct. I fear we think of our spiritual growth as something that begins to happen as we get older. It (getting older) will happen faster than you could ever imagine! We do not know when our last day will be!! Don’t lag!

The next time you get frazzled because there is too much on your plate, try pausing for a moment and ask yourself if God filled your plate or you did! Start each day with a prayer asking God to help you clearly evaluate what your priorities should be. Ask yourself with every endeavor “will this glorify HIM or ME?”

The next time you put off reading your Bible, encouraging a friend, praying for your spouse or going to church, remind yourself that God enjoys walking with you way more than He enjoys pulling you along with Him.

Finally, relax in His timing. Sit in the peace of God which allows you to enjoy all the simple moments, realizing they have been gifted to you by the Father who loves you!