God's Timing

[karen_trustlord]

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Aug 6,2004
God's Timing
From Joni and Friends



Ecclesiastes 3:1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven...

God can turn things around in amazing ways. Take the time the Israelites had been exiled for seventy-some years. Then, out of nowhere, the Lord stirred up Cyrus, the king of Persia, to send this scruffy bunch of exiles back to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple. Who would have dreamed it would happen that way? But the best was yet to come.

Rebuilding the temple wasn't easy. The Jewish refugees had enemies…threats were made… vandalism…the people became discouraged. Soon work on the temple ground to a halt(Ezra 4).

Imagine how frustrating that was. God had seemingly opened the door for the Jews to rebuild the temple; yet everything was against them. The Israelites encountered nothing but opposition. Why would the Lord prevent that which He wanted?

Then came the turnaround. God sent two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, to inspire the people to begin building again. Of course, the enemies were still hanging around. Those enemies, in an attempt to demoralize the people, wrote a letter to Darius, the new king of Persia, asking him to stop, once and for all, the building of the temple. But the letter backfired. Darius found the original decree from Cyrus, and the result was stunning: Darius wrote back that the enemies were to leave the work on God's house alone, and what's more, they were to pay the full cost of rebuilding out of their tax

money(Ezra 6).

Now you see why God had planned the setbacks. He did so to insure that the temple would not only be built but paid for!

Are you in the middle of some setback? Maybe God has opened a door only to slam it shut. Remember these words from an old hymn, "Judge not the Lord by what you sense, but trust Him for His grace…behind His frowning providence, He hides a smiling face."





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Thank You Lord for Your perfect timing and Your grace. Help each of us to trust both Your timing and grace and believe that behind Your seeming frown is Your smile of blessing.
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[purple85]

Thanks, karen, that's really good. God's timing really is perfect, and when things seem to be delayed or not happening, we must trust God to meet our needs and to bring about His perfect plan in His perfect timing. I'm currently going through a relationship setback, where i heard from God who i would marry, however the guy hasn't heard from God as far as i know so he ended our relationship and decided we should just be friends for now, however i am trusting in the Lord that His will will be done in His timing for His Glory. Maybe we could use this thread to share ways in which Gods timing has been evident in our own lives..??

 

[karen_trustlord]

A few years ago God prompted me to start a small group bible study in my home. I'd already tried this 2 times before and it didn't work. God was still prompting me.

I had a list of excuses as to why this wouldn't work.
1. I tried to start it 2 times already & failed.
2. I don't know anything about the bible.
3. I don't have any leader guides for studies.
4. My house isn't good enough.
5. I don't want anyone to see my couch - it's in shreds.

Finally I decided to ignore my list of excuses. I set up our first meeting - there were 3 of us. God did provide and this group was a blessing - it grew to about 10 people. What does this have to do with God's timing? If God prompts you to do something - don't give up - keep at it - it will succeed in His time. If God leads you to it - He'll equip you and lead you thru it. God provided for everything on my list - including a new couch & love seat. Less than a week before our first meeting was set my neighbor knocked on my door. She was moving & wondered if I wanted her couch & love seat. The group never saw my old couch & remarked how well my furniture matched my wall paper. Notice that this happened after I went ahead and stepped out in faith!

Trust in the Lord & His timing!!
Karen