God's time is the best time!

John 7:1-2,10,25-30

Jesus stayed in Galilee; he could not stay in Judaea, because the Jews were out to kill him. As the Jewish feast of Tabernacles drew near, However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went up as well, but quite privately, without drawing attention to himself. Meanwhile some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, ‘Isn’t this the man they want to kill? And here he is, speaking freely, and they have nothing to say to him! Can it be true the authorities have made up their minds that he is the Christ? Yet we all know where he comes from, but when the Christ appears no one will know where he comes from. Then, as Jesus taught in the Temple, he cried out:

‘Yes, you know me and you know where I came from. Yet I have not come of myself: no, there is one who sent me and I really come from him, and you do not know him,
but I know him because I have come from him and it was he who sent me.’ They would have arrested him then, but because his time had not yet come no one laid a hand on him.

Food for thought: Without drawing attention to himself!

This sentence is very important. Jesus kept out of the way, careful not to draw attention to himself because his time had not yet come. And the Jews too were looking for a way to arrest him, but not a hand was laid on him because it wasn't yet God's time.

All this means that there is God's time and our time. And Jesus knew it. He knew how and when to wait for God's time to come. In this particular instance Jesus' opportunity had not come. Literally this means that the best time for Jesus to act, the moment when circumstances were most suitable, the psychological moment was not yet; the moment which would give him the chance for which he was waiting had not yet arrived. For that reason, Jesus kept out of the way, careful not to draw attention to himself because his time had not yet come. And the Jews too were looking for a way to arrest him, but not a hand was laid on him because it wasn't yet God's time.

From this passage we learn one thing that, we too must learn to wait on God's time because God's time is the best time. Anything done out of its time is disastrous. Many of us don't know how and when to wait, and that is why we crush and get crushed. We don't want to stay in God's waiting room. The enemy fills us with the lies that we must take action . . . take matters into our own hands. The enemy whispers, “God’s Word can’t be relied upon, He can’t be trusted . . . you have to do something! You've waited long enough! God isn’t going to show up!” But God’s strong, still, small voice replies, “Wait on Me . . . I will save you . . . I will deliver you . . . I hold your life (every detail) in the palms of My hands.”

You see, there’s a BIG difference between “being still” and “doing nothing.” When God appears to have escorted you into His “waiting room,” you can be certain that He doesn’t want you “doing nothing” . . . He wants you “being still.” We must remember in our most desperate moments in life that it is God who has often led us to the very place we cry out from . . . the “waiting place” . . . the place where we face impossibilities.

We must know that God has led us to this place and moment to teach us a much needed lesson in our walk of faith—we cannot deliver ourselves from a crisis that God himself has orchestrated. Too often, it is by His design that we are in the “waiting place” . . . in the midst of an overwhelming situation. Whatever you’re going through, God is in it. He has allowed the circumstances that have brought you to this “waiting place."

While you’re waiting, God wants you praying, drawing nearer to Him, and resting in the peace that He provides in the midst of a raging storm.