God’s Timing and My Time [Inspired by John Maxwell’s "God’s Timing and my Time.]
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven…”
-Ecclesiastes 3:1
Icebreaker: In a recent panel for the comic strip The Family Circus, Dolly was shown drawing a picture with her crayons. Her grandmother passed by and asked, "What are you drawing?" Dolly replied, "I don’t know. I’ll decide after I’m finished." It’s a humorous response from an artistic child but a tragic and oft repeated reality for many teenagers and adults. If we wait to decide on the direction of our life until we’ve finished, there’s a very high probability it won’t be the destination we wanted. Clear vision for where we hope to end up helps us make better decisions in the present and offers a much more redemptive journey. Beaumont Enterprise, The Family Circus, 12/30/8, p.6C
Intro: I love celebrating a new year. I love the feelings that come with this time of the year. It always feels like we get a clean slate and a fresh start. I think it’s because we kind of look at the new year as a time to forget the things that have passed and begin to concentrate on the things that are present and in the future.
-Many of us also take this time to do some personal evaluation. Are we where we want to be physically, emotionally, and spiritually? Today, I’d really like to focus on your spiritual health. And if you haven’t already, I want to encourage you to take some time today to do some personal spiritual evaluation as you enter a new year. How is your spiritual walk? Do you have a personal relationship with the one who made you? Are you as close to God as you want to be? The start of a new year is a great time to make some decisions about your spirituality. It’s a great time to allow God to begin something new in your life.
-You can become a new person this year, with God’s help. God is the God of the new. He loves doing new things. In fact, did you know that right now, whether you like it or not, you’re a new person? Not long ago, scientists at White Laboratories discovered that 98% of the atoms that are in your body today were not there 365 days ago. You are literally not the same person you were this time last year.
-Of course, goes a lot deeper than just physically. But we know that don’t we? A lot of things can happen in a year, can’t they? Some of you have welcomed new family members, some of you have said goodbye to loved ones, some of you have switched jobs, some of you lost hair and said hello to new wrinkles. Some of you have started attending church here in the past year, and I thank God for you. Some of you have given your lives to Jesus or made some kind of new commitment to him in the past year, and that’s awesome!
-So, a lot can happen in a year, and we tend to do two things in January:
1. We look back and regret. – We wish we could have perhaps done something differently.
2. And we look to a new year and begin to resolve. – We being to resolve that what we have done in the past, we will not do in the future. And my prayer today is that this time we have together this morning will be a time of resolve that will make 2009 the greatest year of your life.
(Prayer)
-This morning, we’re going to talk about God’s timing in our lives. Let’s look at what the Bible says about his timing:
Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
“1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: 2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain 6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”
4 Things You Need to Know about God’s Timing in Your Life
1. God’s timing is sovereign. (Eccl. 3:1a)
Illustration: In the book, The Hiding Place, Corrie ten Boom tells of a night when German and English planes were dogfighting above them in the skies over Holland. After hearing her sister Betsie stirring in the kitchen, Corrie raced down. For an hour, they sipped tea together until the sky was silent. Corrie returned to her bed in a darkened room. She ran her hand over the pillow and felt a piece of metal. There was a ten-inch piece of metal that had fallen onto her bed. She rushed to tell Betsie, " ’Betsie, if I hadn’t heard you in the kitchen-’ But Betsie put a finger on my mouth. ’Don’t say it, Corrie! There are no "ifs" in God’s world. And no places that are safer than other places. The center of His will is our only safety-O Corrie, let us pray that we may always know it!’ " (ten Boom, 67).
Questions: Do you know that kind of peace in your life? Let me ask you something: in your life, have you ever found yourself wondering, “What if..”?
Statement: I do. Sometimes we wonder why God doesn’t answer our prayers when we ask Him to. How many of you have ever prayed for something and your prayer went unanswered, or wasn’t answered the way you wanted it to be answered? All of us, right? And we start to wonder about God’s timing in our lives. We start to ask questions like, “Why didn’t God answer my prayer?” “Do I not have enough faith?” “Doesn’t God care about my problems and how I’m feeling?”
-We’ve all asked those questions during the dark moments in our lives. So what are the answers? I wish I could answer all those tough questions for you today, but I can’t. But here’s what the Bible can answer for us: God’s timing is sovereign.
-The timing of God is sovereign. That means He is in total control. If you’ll notice the first part of Ecclesiastes 3:1, the writer says, “There is an appointed time for everything.” Not most things. Not convenient things. Not happy things, only. Not positive things, alone. There is an appointed time in God’s timetable for everything. And if you can learn to live with that in mind, it’ll make those unanswered prayers a lot easier to cope with. And it’ll make those dark places in your life a little less dark.
Scripture: Hebrews 4:13
“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”
-All things are laid bare before his eyes. He has seen the past years clearly and He sees the coming year just as clearly.
-Now, listen to verses 14-16:
Scripture: Hebrews 4:14-16
“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
-Let’s stop there just for a second. You know what the Hebrews writer is saying? He’s saying Don’t hesitate to approach God, for He already knows what the coming year holds and He’s already gone through the trials and problems that we could go through, so let’s come to Him, because He can relate to us. There may be times when you don’t feel like you have a real friend in the whole world. But you have one in God. He can relate to you.
-Another way to word that part of the verse that says, “in our time of need,” is to say: “God’s help is always just in the nick of time.” Those of you who have been following the Lord for a while, can’t you testify to that? How many times in your life have you been faced with a seemingly impossible situation and God intervened just in the nick of time? If you’re not a follower of Jesus this morning, just talk to one of your friends who is about the sufficiency of God’s timing. Their personal story will preach much better about this than I ever could.
2. God’s timing is sufficient. (Eccl. 3:1b)
Illustration: (Story of my freshman year of college when I was completely out of money and didn’t know how I was going to eat in the coming 2 weeks during summer school. God miraculously provided a job at the concession stand and I had money for food.)
Questions: Have you ever been in one of those places in life where you felt trapped, like there was no way out?
Statement: The last part of verse 1 of Ecclesiastes 3 says:
Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:1b
“And [there is] a season for every activity under heaven.”
-And here’s another thing to remember about God’s timing: It’s always sufficient.
-You may be in a place right now in your life where you’re wondering if God is ever going to show up. I might not even know your story. Maybe your marriage is in jeopardy. Maybe you’re on the brink of losing your job. Maybe you’re really sick and there isn’t much hope. Whatever your situation is, I can’t promise you that God’s going to answer your prayer the way you may want Him to, but I can promise you that you will make it though, if you hold fast to Him.
-Ecclesiastes says, “There is a time for every activity under Heaven.” Everything. God has a time for everything. He’s going to take care of you in everything. He’s going be with you in everything. Not 99% of things. Everything.
-You see, what another thing verse does, is it speaks directly to each one of us. For me, this verse speaks right to Stephen Collins. I’m the kind of person who wants to charge right ahead into every situation in life and take no prisoners. I see a lot of things I want to accomplish for God, and I look at this church and I see a lot of things we want to accomplish and what we could be, and I have a tendency to want to rush and push and pull and try to grab everything I possibly can for the glory of God.
-But then I look at this page of Scripture and God says, “I’ve got a season for every activity under Heaven.” In other words, He’s saying, “Stephen, chill.” That’s the New International Stephen Translation of the Bible. He’s saying, “Stephen, just be with me in my relationship with you, and obey me, as I lead you, and I will bring every event into your life that you need in your life, in the time that I’m going to give you for your life.”
-Maybe that’s what God’s trying to tell you through this Scripture, today. Or maybe it’s the opposite. There are some of you, bless your heart, that maybe what God’s trying to say to you is, “Don’t just stand there, do something.” Some of you have been just standing there waiting for your ship to come in and it’s already been there and left.
Illustration: Like the pastor who reflected over the past year and came to realize he was pastoring a very stagnant and resistant congregation. In discouraged frustration he told his wife, "Our church has finally become more Christ-like… the same yesterday, today, and forever."
Adapted from Leadership, Fall 2008, p.82
-That leads us into the 3rd thing you need to know about God’s timing:
3. God’s timing is seasonal. (Eccl. 3:2-8)
-Let’s look at the meat of Ecclesiastes chapter 3, and let’s just go through this, verse-by-verse:
Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:2-8
“[There is] a time to be born and a time to die a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain 6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”
Questions: What do you think the point of this section of Scripture really is? Is it really about killing and healing and mourning and dancing? Where is the principle of God’s timing, here? What can we uncover that God may be trying to communicate to us?
Statement: Notice something very important in these verses. Birth and death. Killing and healing. Tearing down and building up. Weeping and laughing. Mourning and dancing. Scattering and gathering. Embracing and refraining. Searching and giving up. Keeping and throwing away. Tearing and mending. Silence and speaking. Loving and hating. War and Peace. Do you notice a pattern here?
-All of these seasons that the Bible describes are opposites and they’re a seasonal. This isn’t just talking about picking up stones and throwing them back. This passage is describing all the different seasons of life. Life comes in seasons. It’s not just one big long, monotonous grind. There are seasons of vigor, there are seasons of rest, there are seasons of loss, and there are seasons of refreshing and renewal. The key to really living a full life is to catch on to what God is doing in your life during each season.
-In other words, I think what God would say to us in Ecclesiastes is that “there’s only a period if time, a season of time, in which I’m going to be doing this in your life and then I’m moving on to something else in your life.” That’s why it’s so important for us to know God’s timing so we can begin to learn how to live in his ebb and flow.
-It’s that way in your life and it’s that way in the life of a church. I think that right now, we’re in a time of renewal as a congregation and God is giving us a vision for the future. And just like in our lives, if we’re not living in His timing, if we’re not ready to grab hold of His tide when it comes in, it’s going to go right back out and we will have missed it for a season. If we’re not willing to change when God says, “change,” then He’s going to move on for a while and find a church who will. And after a while He’ll come in a season of renewing again and say, “I want you to do this, now.” And if we’re not willing to grab hold of that, He’ll move on again for a season of time. So in your life, you’ve got to be willing to move when God says move and to be still when He says be still. Same goes for our church.
-One more thing about God’s timing:
4. God’s timing is surprising.
-We’re not always ready for it. We can usually think of a thousand reasons why we’re not ready to do what God wants us to do. But when I look at verse 2-8, one of the things that just jumps off the page at me is that we have a very creative God. And who am I that I should ever know His ways? His ways are higher than my ways and His thoughts are greater than my thoughts and about the time that I think I have God figured out, He messes me up. He takes me into another season and He surprises me with another of His various ways of working through people. Ways that I never thought possible. Ways that I never thought were probable. Ways that I never thought were workable. But I’m not God. And you know what? I’m glad. Aren’t you glad that you’re not God?
-That would be a good resolution for all of us to make this coming year. Put it at the top of your list: Stop trying to be God. Just learn to live and move and be still within His timing for you. So let’s talk about how to do that, real quick this morning.
To maximize my potential in the coming year, there are 2 things I must do:
1. I must study the movement of God’s timing.
2. I must seize the moment of God’s timing.
How to study the movement of God’s timing
Daily take time for God. – Make time for Him. If you find the Bible you have difficult to read, buy an easier-to-understand translation, like the New Living Translation or even a paraphrase translation like The Message. These aren’t great Bibles for someone who wants to be a serious student of the Bible, but if you’re at the point right now where you have a hard time even reading your Bible, an easy-to-read translation may serve you well for this season of your life. There’s even a great dramatized Bible on CD called “The Bible Experience.” It’s a little pricey but it would be great to listen to on your commute to work. I doesn’t matter how you do it, but get God’s Word into your daily life! His Word can’t seep into your heart if it’s not getting into your mind. You make time for your favorite TV shows, don’t you? Then you can make time for Jesus.
Expect Him to speak to you.
Vary the pattern of your time with God
Open your heart to God’s teachings.
Test all your feelings with God’s Word.
Improve your study by taking notes.
Obey God’s Word at all times.
Notice opportunities to apply what you are learning.
Share what you are learning with other people.
Conclusion/Response
-So, how can you apply this to your life, today? Remember everything we’ve talked about? That’s exactly where you are, today. You’re in some season of life, right now. I don’t know what it is. Only you and God do. And God comes at certain times during those seasons and speaks to you about certain issues. And I’m telling you this morning, when God speaks to you, no matter what season you may be in, you need to not only listen. You need to respond.
-So maybe this morning you know that God is trying to speak some truth into your life. Maybe you’ve never really started your relationship with Him by acknowledging Jesus as the ruler of your life. You need to respond to God today during this season. Seize the moment.
