God Moves On His Own Time!
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace;
(Malachi 4: 1 NASB)
and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff;
and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of host,
“so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.”
In the LAST book of the Old Testament & In the LAST words recorded BEFORE the 400 years of silence when no words were spoken about God.
THEN A SMALL BABY IS BORN IN BETHLEHEM!
- THIS BABY’S NAME WAS GIVEN TO US, EVEN BEFORE THE PERIOD OF SILENCE!
- THIS BABY’S NAME WAS PROPHESIDED, EVEN BEFORE HE CAME TO BE BORN TO A VIRGIN!
- THIS BABY’S NAME WAS PROCLAIMED, EVEN BEFORE THE WORLD WHISPERED HIS NAME & EVEN BEFORE THE SHEPHERDS SAW THE STAR & EVEN BEFORE THE WISE MEN FROM THE EAST TRAVELED TO BRING BABY JESUS GIFTS!
WHEN GOD MOVES—HE MOVES!
WHEN GOD DELAYS—IT IS BECAUSE HIS PLAN IS PERFECT TIMING!
A few years ago, I purchased my first Bible; I was fifty-years-old. Now, by that time, I had been a Christian for numerous years (since the age of fifteen), and since the time of my salvation, I had carried the same Bible. Yes, that is correct. My pastor, Bro. Jim, had gifted my (then) boyfriend and me with matching Bibles, and as young believers, we carried those same Bibles throughout our years of marriage.
Then I turned fifty. Now, I am not really sure what caused my desire to change other than to say—GOD! Yes, this one-word answer led me to purchase a new Bible for my fiftieth birthday. I purchased a new Bible and at that critical juncture in my life, I even purchased and began reading a new translation. You see, for all those years, I had been a student of the King James Version, and briefly read the New International Version when a former pastor began projecting that translation on the ‘big screen’ each Sunday morning during his message. I was content—until I gifted myself with the New American Standard Bible. At fifty, when I purchased for myself this gift, I changed.
How you might ask. Simply this—When I made the decision to buy myself the most important gift of my life—the Word of God—my life-walk with Jesus really began to change.
- Now, let me pause to say that it was NOT just the buying of the new Bible.
- Nor was it NOT just the buying of the translation new to me.
- NO. It was the daily reading that I began at that point in my life!
Until that time, I read my Bible, haphazardly, trying to ‘carve out time’ for God. If some of the time, I ran out of time, then I would just say to myself: “Well, tomorrow is a new day, and I will read then, tomorrow.” Let me just say what we all know to be truth—TOMORROW NEVER COMES—because by the time TOMORROW COMES, TODAY HAS ARRIVED!
The apostle John was called by Jesus to follow & become a ‘fisher of men.’ As John was led by God’s Holy Spirit, he wrote—
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
(John 1: 1 NASB)
At the age of fifty (when I made that extremely important decision to begin DAILY reading), God began to change me. It was subtle; it was uncomfortable at times, and I am still a work in progress because God is still changing me. I was led (back then, when I was fifty) to begin carrying my Bible with me when I went to work. Yes, that’s right. Until age forty-nine, my copy of God’s Word remained behind on the special table where I placed it each week once I returned home from church. When I pulled it off the table to read, then I would place it back on that table where it would remain safe, resting quietly there, until I retrieved it again whenever I decided to pick it up to read. Now, I read my Bible most days, and I studied to prepare several Sunday School lessons because I have been a teacher for more years than I can count. Nevertheless, when God led me to begin ‘carrying’ His Word with me to work, then that simple action BEGAN TO CHANGE ME!
Whenever we read the Word of God, we ask:
- God, is there a lesson for me to learn?
- God, is there a change to my life that I need to make?
- God, is there an example from YOUR WORD that is applicable to me today?
- God, is there a promise of GOD that I need to claim in my life?
- God, is there a warning that YOU want me to understand & heed?
- God, is there a command that I have failed to obey?
- God, is there a sin in my life that I have not yet confessed to YOU?
Our desire, Christian brothers and sisters, is to stay close to God & to His daily guidance.
God will lead us, as we go!
God probably will not give us the whole picture, the entire life-map for our lives. He did not give the full disclosure to Abram, to Moses, to Peter, to Andrew, to James, to John, to Matthew, or to Saul who was changed by God to become the apostle Paul.
Jesus Christ simply said—
“Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4: 19b NASB)
- It is a truth: God Moves On His Own Time!
- It is a truth: WHEN GOD MOVES—HE MOVES!
- It is a truth: WHEN GOD DELAYS—IT IS BECAUSE HIS PLAN IS PERFECT TIMING!
God has proven these TRUTHS over & over throughout the front and back covers of His Holy Word.
“For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.”
(Malachi 3: 6 NASB)