For just a short time this climbing rose is beautiful. Most of the year it is either leafy or bald! But in Spring these magnificent roses cry out to be photographed. Timing is everything- too soon and the roses are tight buds. Too late and the petals are imitating confetti all over the ground.
At exactly the right point in time they are stunningly beautiful.
One of hardest lessons is learning to trust God for perfect timing: often in terms of a prayer request, or a deep need or crisis in life. Is God listening? If He heard my prayer, why is nothing happening?
A personal illustration: back in the 1990s I became a victim of chronic fatigue syndrome (probably triggered by a bad attack of REAL influenza- not man-flu.). Despite my prayers and the prayers of others, I was gradually getting worse over two months. Our church had a party going to Spring Harvest that year, and we went along. One of my friends “warmly invited” me to attend a seminar on healing: him being very persistent, I went along. I was prayed for- but not healed… well, not exactly. Although still exhausted, I stopped getting worse. Over the next weeks, I gradually improved and the chronic fatigue abated.
But what if… what if I had not asked for prayer? Would I have simply worsened? What if my friend had not insisted on taking me for prayer (a bit like the friends who lowered their mate through a ceiling so Jesus could meet him)?
Was it just co-incidence? I don’t think so. Remember the blind man who Jesus prayed for? He saw people like trees walking! Had Jesus failed? No. Some prayers are answered at different speeds! Mark tells us the story…
When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch the man and heal him. Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, spitting on the man’s eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, “Can you see anything now?”
The man looked around. “Yes,” he said, “I see people, but I can’t see them very clearly.
They look like trees walking around.”
Then Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again, and his eyes were opened. His sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly. – Mark 8 v22-25 (New Living Translation)
Later, when Paul was writing to the Corinthian Church, he made the point that the Sovereign Lord chooses to act at the EXACT right moment. Read and reflect on this-
2 Corinthians 6:1-10 The Message
Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don’t squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us. God reminds us, I heard your call in the nick of time; The day you needed me, I was there to help. Well, now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped. Don’t put it off; don’t frustrate God’s work by showing up late, throwing a question mark over everything we’re doing. Our work as God’s servants gets validated—or not—in the details. People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly . . . in hard times, tough times, bad times; when we’re beaten up, jailed, and mobbed; working hard, working late, working without eating; with pure heart, clear head, steady hand; in gentleness, holiness, and honest love; when we’re telling the truth, and when God’s showing his power; when we’re doing our best setting things right; when we’re praised, and when we’re blamed; slandered, and honored; true to our word, though distrusted; ignored by the world, but recognized by God; terrifically alive, though rumored to be dead; beaten within an inch of our lives, but refusing to die; immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy; living on handouts, yet enriching many; having nothing, having it all.
Timing is everything– and God is expert at timing.
The Reflectionary 