In God’s Time

Time is such that once it goes by, it cannot be retrieved. Which is why you make plans for: what you need to do with your time, how you want to do it and what you need to have achieved by the end of the day, month or year. We can attribute planning our time based on God’s time and plan.

Likewise, God makes a plan on how things should be done in a certain time frame: How everything is supposed to work out, what lessons you should learn in a time frame and so much more.

When is God’s time?

God’s time is unique to him because only he knows when he will do certain things (in your life, your family and your prayers).

Truth be told, it’s uncommon to know when God’s time is because God is not man.

‘God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken and will He not make it good and fulfil it?’ NUMBERS 23:19

The most I have seen God say concerning his time is:

‘For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord , ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. ‘ JEREMIAH 29:11

What is common in the two bible verses is that God will fulfil what he has promised, no matter the delay that may come your way or the echo when it feels like you are repeating the same prayers day after day.

What should you know about God’s time?

In order to illustrate the truth about God’s time, you will be looking at the story of the Israelites when God took them out of Egypt to the promised land.

The Genesis of the promised land

‘So I have come down to rescue them from the hand (power) of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a land [that is] good and spacious, to a land flowing with milk and honey [a land of plenty]—to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. ‘EXODUS 3:8

God heard their cry in Egypt and sent Moses to bring them out and take them to the promised land which they were thrilled about. They did start the journey and God led them through it:

‘And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.’ EXODUS 13:21-22

Similarly, you and I behave in this way: you present your worries in form of prayer before God which he hears and leads you into a new path, one which will guarantee the right destination for you.

Who will be my source?

In Egypt, they were used to relying on themselves for everything because they worked quite hard and could afford it. When they got half way on the journey, they couldn’t take it anymore: They needed to know that they would always have no matter what comes their way.

‘And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”’ EXODUS 16:3

At times, you want to know the next step from your current position, how everything will work out but God wants you to know that :

‘A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.’ PROVERBS 16:9

Can I trust God?

The Israelites couldn’t trust that God would be their source despite the fact that God provided manna everyday. Although, God told them to take manna which is enough for one day and they disobeyed.

‘This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let every man gather as much of it as he needs. Take an omer for each person, according to the number of people each of you has in his tent.’ ” EXODUS 16:16

‘Moses said, “Let none of it be left [overnight] until [the next] morning.” But they did not listen to Moses, and some left a supply of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul and rotten; and Moses was angry with them. ‘ EXODUS 16:19-20

In such little time after they left Egypt, they had already disobeyed God and complained quite a number of times which God forgave.

When you are in transit from your Egypt to your Canaan (promised land), trust God. Trust him because he knows where you will end and he won’t lead you on the wrong path. He will be your source!

The Promised Land is not good enough

After travelling for so long, they approached the promised land and they were ecstatic. God told them to send 12 spies to check out the land and you wouldn’t believe what happened:

‘Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession of it; for we will certainly conquer it.” ‘ NUMBERS 13:30

‘But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people [of Canaan], for they are too strong for us.” ‘ NUMBERS 13:31

Out of 12 spies, 2 people thought they could claim the land while 10 thought they weren’t strong enough to claim it. The problem with the land wasn’t the land itself but the people who went to check it out.

In like fashion, you and I behave in the same manner: Someone’s view is enough to deter us from doing what God has planned for us. God gave the Israelites the land and 10 people’s views stopped them from claiming it for 40 years.

‘So they gave the Israelites a bad report about the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we went, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. ‘ NUMBERS 13:32

40 years journey to the Promised Land

Earlier, I mentioned that they complained a lot and God forgave them. This time is contrary because God had enough already and he punished them for 40 years. The people who didn’t want to claim the promised land before were seen trying to claim the land by force in NUMBERS 14:39-45.

‘According to the number of days in which you spied out the land [of Canaan], forty days, for each day, you shall bear and suffer a year for your sins and guilt, for forty years, and you shall know My displeasure [the revoking of My promise and My estrangement because of your sin]. ‘ NUMBERS 14:34

The sole reason they didn’t claim the land is because they thought they were going to do it of their own strength. They didn’t think that God would help them. The battle wasn’t theirs to fight but God.

It took them quite a number of years to have realised that. God wants you to know that people will come your way expressing doubt, but the land which God wants you to claim will be yours if you refuse to let their doubt and opinions influence what God has in store for you.

Arrival to the Promised Land

40 years later, God brought them to the promised land. Although, there was a new generation :

‘Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, not one of you shall enter the land in which I swore [an oath] to settle you. But your children whom you said would become plunder, I will bring in, and they will know the land which you have despised and rejected. ‘ NUMBERS 14:30-31

‘So the Lord gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and lived in it. ‘ JOSHUA 21:43

‘The Lord gave them rest [from conflict] on every side, in accordance with everything that He had sworn to their fathers, and not one of all their enemies stood before them [in battle]; the Lord handed over all their enemies to them. ‘ JOSHUA 21:44

‘Not one of the good promises which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel failed; all had come to pass.’ JOSHUA 21:45

Perfection in God’s time

It took 40 years for the Israelites to realise that there was perfection in the promised land which God gave to them.

When God’s time comes, everything will be perfect. The Israelites learnt a lot of lessons before they got to their promised land, so do we.

God gives you wisdom on why he didn’t give you what you asked for at your time and when it comes, you know it is the right time for you to have it.

Read the previous article: A new dawn