"Always on Time"

“Always on Time”

 

Some years ago one of our New Hampshire church’s elders went on a missions’ trip to a closed country with several others from our area. Much prayer went into this effort because they were carrying Bibles and a significant amount of money to assist the national believers and, if found, they were likely to be detained and their “cargo” confiscated. As the group approached the customs station they noticed that a TV was tuned into a soccer game in which the national squad was playing. The immigration officers were so engrossed in the action that they waved the team through with little or no examination. Coincidence? I prefer to think of it as another example of God’s perfect timing.

Almost 30 years ago a Christian counselor told Karen and me, “God’s never late but He’s seldom early.” He said this at a time we were confused about (and in my case questioning) His leading in our lives. In His time He led us to Manchester, NH where we spent the best 20 years of our pastoral ministry. His timely direction was also seen when we transitioned to South Carolina and recently to Florida. In each case God delayed our plans because He had lessons for us to learn before the next stop on our journey.

When I was working at a Christian camp as a teenager in yon times of yore I memorized part of Psalm 37 which I still repeat often. It says, “Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass…Rest in the Lord, (and here’s a phrase I sometimes wish wasn’t in the Bible) and wait patiently for him….” (Verses 3-5, 7, KJV, emphasis added). Our instant gratification society doesn’t want to wait for anything. Sadly, we as God’s people can be swept up in this present-day phenomenon and when we are we can fall victim to the effects of “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” It’s happened to me—hopefully I’ve learned from these failures.

Incidentally, I began writing these thoughts about a month before completing the article because things just didn’t come together. So I put it aside and (hopefully) waited patiently for God’s timing. My prayer is that we as His people might see that “He’s never late but seldom early”—in other words, He’s always right on time.

Blessings!

Jim McMillan