Timing


“Again the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and he gave them a deliverer----Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite.  The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab."  Judges 3:15

As my car spun out of control on the snowy highway, all I could do was wait for it to stop.  Neither braking nor turning the steering wheel made any difference whatsoever.  We came to a stop in the plowed snow on the other side of the highway just as the oncoming traffic blew by.  What could have been our last day on earth instead became a simple phone call to get towed out.  The difference between those two outcomes?  Timing.  A second earlier, a second later ... disaster.  Fundamentally, timing involves two things - people and circumstances.  Consider your introduction to your spouse.  Two people at the same place at the same time who happened to be predisposed to being attracted to each other.  Rather remarkable really. 

Take Ehud, our left-handed deliverer for example.  His circumstances included his dominant hand and the job he had been assigned.  Being left-handed, the sword he used to kill the enemy king was concealed on his right leg, a place the king's bodyguard would not have been predisposed to search.  Second, he was chosen to bring the tribute/tax money to the King from the Israelites.  In regards to the man himself, he was clearly a man of courage with a passion and zeal for both God and his people.  When this man encountered these circumstances, a hero was born.  Deliverance and freedom came to God's people.  It was all just a matter of timing.

In our lives, generally speaking, the only side of the equation of timing that we have a certain measure of influence over is us.  We may or may not be left-handed.  We may or may not have a job of national significance.  However, we most certainly do have a God in heaven who has eternally significant purposes for our lives.  Are we keeping in step with God's Spirit so that as circumstances arrive we have the necessary spiritual mettle to rise to the occasion?  When God-directed circumstances collide with God-directed people, remarkable things take place.  My prayer is that none of us would opt out of the wonder of divine timing.

Grace and Peace,

Tom

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