Worship

Today, I want to talk about recognizing and trusting God’s timing. The Bible talks about His timing as purposeful, and always at the exact moment He wants something to happen. Psalm 18 tells us “As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him. For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God? It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure.”-Psalms‬ ‭18‬:‭30‬-‭32‬ . Our text today tells us “We also glory in our tribulations….At the right time, God sent His Son to die for the ungodly.”-Romans 5:3,6. This idea of God moving on His time, even in tribulation, is not foreign to us. This is an amazing story. Each year on Febuary 10th on the Island of Malta, one of the country’s biggest religious and national holidays is celebrated. Street decorations and festa atmosphere, with flags, lights, banners, and crowded public squares celebrating a specific event. Family gatherings and public celebrations, since the feast is a national public holiday and many businesses and schools close for the day. Some business close for the week. Traditional Maltese band marches (“marċi”), including daytime and evening performances through the city streets. What is the event that the island shuts down for? To celebrate the Shipwreck of Saint Paul!

The celebration commemorates the account in Acts 27–28. Both chapters tell the story of Paul the Apostle. God told Paul that he didn’t have a choice, he was going to preach the Gospel to Cesar in Rome: “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome”– Acts 23:11. This dream from God came to fruition when Paul was ordered by Agrippa to send Paul to Rome as a prisoner on a ship. What seems to us a bad thing, Paul says “I am good! I am doing what God called me to do!” Yet, a violent storm happens. If Paul is like most of us, storms on the sea would have us pretty upset. Here we are on the way to fulfilling God’s call to go to Rome, and something bad happens! A storm, in which all might lose their life!! Is that you today? You have a call from God to love Him, your family, your community, but something happens to disrupt it? Paul, surely feels like He can’t fulfill His calling by God. Yet behold the timing of God! Through an Angel, God tells Paul , ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’”- Acts‬ ‭27‬:‭24‬. In other words, you will still fulfill your calling! It’s just the way I send you, not the way you want to go to get there. Paul informs everyone on board in the midst of the storm that everyone, including Paul will survive, just as God had promised. What’s the way God sends Paul to Rome? A ship to wreck on the island of Malta, about 500 miles off course. . While on Malta, Paul was bitten by a snake but unharmed, healed many sick people. But the timing seems off, right? Paul eventually went to Rome. But why didn’t Paul sail straight for Rome? Why the detour from His call to Rome?

You see, Maltese Christians view Paul healing many people on the island as the beginning of Christianity on the island. 85 percent of the nation is Christian because of this event, and continues to this day. Solemn Masses and church services take place throughout the day, especially at St. Paul’s Shipwreck Church in Valletta. A procession of the statue of Saint Paul through Valletta’s streets, accompanied by marching bands, cheering crowds, banners, and confetti. Fireworks are on full display over the Grand Harbour and around Valletta, especially after morning religious services. Views of ancient relics associated with Saint Paul, including what is believed to be a wrist bone relic and part of the column tied to his martyrdom in Rome are available to view.

Why the celebration that celebrates a Ship Wreck, a snake bite, and a detour from what Paul was called to do? The citizens of Malta understand something!! God can use what looks like terrible timing, and turn it into His glory!! 85 percent of the Island can trace their Christian faith back to the days of Paul. As I heard one Pastor put it, “God can be doing 10,000 things in your life, and you are only aware of 3 of them.” Remember Malta and the 10,000 things God is doing in your life when you believe God’s timing is wrong. Let’s talk today about recognizing God’s timing, and why we can trust when He chooses to act.

God moves when we no longer can do anything for our life except trust in Him: “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.”-Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭6‬. Commentators have debated for a long time, why did Jesus come when he did? Why didn’t he come before the Flood in Noah’s time? Why didn’t he come in the time of the prophets? Why didn’t Jesus heal Lazarus in John 11, but not his cousin John who was beheaded by Herod? Is it a lack of faith? Is it election of one person over another? Friends, God’s timing is not a matter of how or who, it is a matter of when and why. Paul writes in Galatians 4:4 that “In the fullness of time, God sent His Son born of a woman.” We all know why the Son was sent, to teach and die for sinners. Through means including obedience to the Torah, Temple activity, and even isolation, the Pharisees, Saducees, and Essenes longed for the restoration of God’s people. The Zealots, focused on arm revolt to bring liberation to Israel. Paul is saying that none of those groups could bring restoration, all were powerless, only Christ on the cross could do what they dreamed of doing! Friends, this is a striking thought. The solution to the restoration of God’s people did not come from people who worried the most about restoration! Only Jesus could restore sinners at a time of His choosing on the cross. We worry and call it human, and while there is a place for worrying, there is also a place for saying you can do nothing else, you are powerless, at which point you give your worries to Jesus, who alone can bring restoration to your life.

You see this kind of powerlessness in relationships all the time. In my own life, I saw a lot before I started dating Rhiannon. I lived with two brothers growing up. One of them, Chris, moved out very early to get married at 17 years old. He was in love, and so was his wife, and they took off very quickly! My twin brother, got engaged his senior year of High School, and got married the following year in 2001. I dated some here and there, but nothing that really lasted very long. In those early days, I would ask questions of God. These questions didn’t affect my faith, or hurt others, but I would ask the questions because that is how I felt. Why didn’t I meet Rhiannon, my loving wife today, while Paul and Chris were getting married? Why did I have to witness both of their marriages, go through breakups and a job change of my own, before I met Rhiannon? It’s real simple: I was not ready. I needed to learn how to fail, how to be happy for others in different places than I was. I needed to realize what I wished for the most, I was powerless to achieve by myself! When I could do nothing else to be were I wanted to be besides trust in Christ, that was when God began to move. Literally! Rhiannon moved into Lubbock, she got a job at United. My future wife was literally working next to me, and I had no idea at the time. 10,00 things? Try a million! God was doing so much in my life. He was setting up the moment I would move to East Texas, adopt Evan, have a loving daughter in Brooklyn, and pursue two callings that I love and adore in teaching and now the ministry. No way I could have seen this coming at the time. That is how God works! His timing always happens when we no longer can no longer do anything for our life except trust in Him.

God’s timing can be trusted: “Jesus was delivered over to the cross for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”- Romans‬ 4:25, ‭5‬:‭1‬, ‭6‬, ‭8‬. This text is one of the most important texts in the Bible, and I offer two invitations to consider with it. First, I invite you to remember that because of Jesus, God never gets His timing wrong. God, did not look at our situation and say “boy, I hope I am sending Jesus at the right time!” Jesus came, therefore we have peace at exactly the right time God wanted us to have it. We can wonder about His timing, but scripture counsels us to remember because of Jesus, God’s timing is never wrong, and helps us exactly when we need it.

The Apostle Peter learned God’s timing is never wrong in his discipleship with Jesus. In Jesus final hours, when he was asked 3 times by others if he knew Jesus, Peter denied ever knowing him. One of the worst moments of his life, he responded to his guilt by going back to his old life and fishing in John 21. He knew he messed up, and humbled himself to the point of thinking of others more than himself. He felt like He was no longer worthy because of what happened, so the least he can do is fish so others can live. But, as always, Jesus would have the last word! Standing on the lake shore, he asked Peter and the disciples who came with him, to toss their nets over the boat. When 153 fish were pulled in, Peter knew exactly what was going on: “It is the Lord Jesus!” He dove in, and was reinstated by Jesus after being 3 times if He loved Him. It was that experience, that caused Peter to be inspired by the Spirit later and write “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”-1 Peter‬ ‭5‬:‭6‬. Peter’s humbling moment wasn’t fun, but he got through it, because he waited. His Lord and friend Jesus came and lifted him up, on His time.

Number 2, I invite you to remember when God’s timing in your own life happened exactly when you needed Him to act. This is not just my suggestion, it is a praise from the Psalms: “I remembered you, God, and I groaned; I meditated, and my spirit grew faint. You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak. Then I thought, “To this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand. I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”-Psalms‬ ‭77‬:‭3‬-‭4‬, ‭10‬-‭12‬. The Psalmist realized, even if he is waiting on the Lord’s timing, it’s not like the Lord hasn’t acted before! We need help remembering that don’t we? Why does God get timing right, but now we think he isn’t moving fast enough, or He moves at the wrong time?

I read a story in a book on prayer from a guy named Harold the other that is worth considering as an answer to the issue of God and whether or not he acts fast enough. He told the story of how he was in a season of being in an emotional rut, and needing God’s help to climb out of it. He often wondered if God just wasn’t moving fast enough to help him, or wasn’t even moving at all, yet, one day, he found it that God had helped him, at the exact time he needed it. “I realized that my body chemistry changes when I consistently give my wants, worries, and concerns to Jesus.” He called each day “a treasure hunt”, looking for signs of God’s presence as he waited on God’s action for his specific prayers. This treasure hunt for God has not always, in his words, made God move faster, “or the world any less problem filled.” It has given him the persistence to keep going while he waits. To parphrase his final line, persistence is His way of demonstrating faith in God that He will move on His time, exactly when we need Him to. 

What are you waiting on? Hear our Lord’s promise as we wait on His timing! “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”-Romans 8:11. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.