WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT
John 7:6 (NIV 1984) Therefore Jesus told them, “The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right.”
Jesus was having a conversation with His own brothers who didn’t believe in Him. How frustrating that His own family rejected His identity and life mission. They wanted Jesus to capitalize on His miracles – to jumpstart a successful ministry and draw the crowds. Had they been on a modern church leadership team they would have wanted to seize the amazing momentum they had and use it to grow their ministry. Big, successful, and prosperous; these are the goals. There would be lots of exposure and advertisement - websites, videos, posts, tweets, tags, blogs, links, likes, and the rest. Old school included, it would be time for fliers, mail outs, radio ads, and certainly billboards with Jesus’ picture (No wife mind you; He wasn’t married), along with any other scheme modern ministry does to promote itself. But the issue Jesus took with his brothers didn’t touch on any of this, rather His focus was on timing. “For you any time is right,” Jesus told them. Jesus has a timing in all things. He would eventually draw the crowds, and then they would all desert Him. He would eventually be loved and followed by the masses and then vilified and murdered at their hands. But everything that happened was in its right time.
Timing is at the heart of an abiding life. We can rush into calling and assignments from God like a bull in a China closet and completely miss God’s timing, and miss it so badly that we do major damage - damage that can devastate beyond repair. When God gives us a vision or an amazing idea, our response should not immediately be to go and start doing, but to wait and start praying – praying about the specifics of when and how. As a minister I often get “great” ideas that I am “sure” are from God. Sometimes, in my zeal, I jump on them and try to make them happen immediately; however, when I allow wisdom to prevail, I slow down and wait on the Lord. I will write those ideas down and put them in my “to be considered and prayed about” file. When time passes, the ideas that are from the Spirit usually still burn with passion in my heart, the others that come from my mind have no energy on them. In fact, I sometimes even forget I had them. For us any time is right, but not for God. When He leads us, He has a timing in mind. We will do well to wait for the “right time”. Oh, and in waiting, remember that God might just say, “Now is the time!”
