Timing is Everything

Timing is everything. Just ask any parent. Ask your son to clean his room during an episode of a Star Wars cartoon? You’re going to be in for a battle. But even gently suggest that you would love his dresser neater close to bedtime, and he will be ready for a full-scale clean out to prolong his time awake.

When I buy clothes for my six-year-old daughter, I don’t show them to her if she’s in a bad mood. Else she’ll decide she hates every piece. Later when she is happy, it doesn’t change. If she originally said she despised the clothes, she’ll stick with it. But if I present the same clothes at a more opportune time, they are sure to be her absolute favorites.

Timing is everything.

All around us people are hurting. The economy has taken a toll on our finances, our homes, our jobs, and even our marriages. Everybody knows somebody who has lost a job or even a house. In your group of close friends, I bet you know at least two families who have really suffered. Maybe you are the one in need.

Where is God in all of this despair? Surely his people have cried out to Him. With just a simple breath, God could change the economic outlook. Why isn’t he breathing on the stock market today?

Timing is everything.

On the Israelites’ passage to the Promised Land, they traveled through the wilderness. What should have been a hop, skip, and a jump to Canaan took forty years. But on that journey something amazing happened. Three months into the trip, the Lord brought them through the desert to Mount Sinai. And there on the mountain, in the middle of the desert, God showed himself to His people.

The LORD said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you…Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day, because on that day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. Exodus 19:10,11 NIV

The God who led them out of Egypt, who parted the waters of the Red Sea, the One who made His wishes known through His servant Moses was allowing them to see Him and hear Him.

This stop on the journey to Canaan was geographically the farthest distance from the Promised Land. But it was here that God chose to reveal Himself to them, in the desert where He drew them closer.

Perhaps our all-knowing God was aware that if He revealed himself after they arrived in the land of Canaan, His people would be so busy drinking milk and eating honey sandwiches they may not even take notice.

Timing is everything.

Sometimes it takes wandering in the desert to ready us for God to reveal Himself in all His glory. Are you on the desert road? Have you been walking for miles in the wilderness? If so, then consecrate yourself. Prepare your heart because you are about to see and hear from the Living God.