God's Perfect Timing

 "Timing is everything." It's an old adage, and certainly guilty of overstatement. Yet, the Bible affirms the benefit of timing things well. For instance, Solomon reminds us that "A person finds joy in giving an apt reply - and how good is a timely word!," (Proverbs 15:23). Think of how good, "Will you marry me?" fits when it is spoken to the right person at the right time.

As good as humans can be at saying or doing the right thing at the right time, God is infinitely better. While God is not limited by time or space, He is by no means unfamiliar with the concept of time. He invented time, and the progression of moments serves Him and His purposes.

One way we God's timeliness in Scripture is when things happen at just the right time. I was reminded of this in a simple story of God's grace to a woman and her son. In 2 Kings 4:8-37, Elisha the prophet is repeatedly blessed by a wealthy woman. She leads her husband to extend hospitality to the prophet when traveling through their region of Shunem, even giving him use of a small apartment. Elisha wants to do something for her as a "thank you," but she is well-to-do and doesn't appear to have needs. However, Elisha's servant, Gehazi, comes up with something truly helpful. The woman's husband is old and she has no son to inherit her husband's estate when he passes away.

"About this time next year," Elisha said, "you will hold a son in your arms." "No, my lord!" she objected. "Please, man of God, don't mislead your servant!" (2 Kings 4:15-16, NLT).

The gift sounded too good to be true. The woman likely did not want to get her hopes up only to be dashed. Perhaps this had happened repeatedly and she didn't want to open herself up to more pain. And yet, God kindly provided for her a son. However, when the boy was still young, tragedy struck. One day he experienced a terrible head-ache and within a few hours, the boy died.

The woman, rather than giving into despair, saddled a donkey and headed out to find Elisha. When she finally found him, her bitterness drips from her words: "Did I ask you for a son, my lord?" she said. "Didn't I tell you, 'Don't raise my hopes'?" (2 Kings 4:28). Elisha understood her pain and his role. He quickly sent his servant to seek to help the boy, but Gehazi was unable to heal him. So, Elisha went and prayed fervently and eventually, the boy resuscitated. Elisha gave the boy, alive, back to his mother.

This story is incredible as it stands, but it's what happens in 2 Kings 8 that shows God's timeliness. Years later, perhaps after the woman's older husband had passed away, a famine came to Israel. Elisha warned the woman, and she took her son and lived for seven years in Philistia. When the famine ended, she returned to her home, but had to seek a royal audience in order to secure the rights to her property that had been abandoned for seven years. 

No doubt, as a woman, and as a foreigner, she faced an uphill battle. The king of Israel could have quickly dismissed her and refused to grant her back her property. He was not a godly king interested in a foreign widows' rights. Yet, here we see God's timeliness. For on the same day, at the same moment, that she came to visit the king and ask for her property rights to be restored, Gehazi was also visiting with the king. Whatever business Elisha's servant came for, the king had just asked for stories of the prophet Elisha's adventures. Gehazi chose to tell the king about a woman from Shunem who miraculously conceived a son when her husband was old, and how Elisha had prayed and God had raised the boy from the dead.

"Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to appeal to the king for her house and land. Gehazi said, 'This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.' The king asked the woman about it, and she told him. Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, 'Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now,'" (2 Kings 8:5-6, NLT).

Because of God's timeliness to have the woman arrive when Gehazi had just told the king about the woman, the king excitedly granted her request and restored her land. Then, the king went further. He also ordered that she be paid for the use of the land for seven years. God's timeliness provided land, home, and financial support for this widow and her son.

Sometimes, waiting feels boring. Other times, waiting feels dreadful. I hate waiting. Yet, God appears to prefer timeliness to haste, ordering events to they occur at just the right time. So Queen Esther came to the royal palace at just the right time to help thwart Haman's plan to eradicate God's people. So David arrived at just the right time to hear Goliath's challenge and offered to face the giant from Philistia. And, so Jesus was sent to be born at just the right time.

Paul told the Galatians, "But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship," (Galatians 4:4-5, NLT). Praise God for His timeliness, and for sending Jesus at just the right time.

The next time you are waiting or going through a period of wondering if God will ever answer your prayers, please remember how God set up a day for the woman to arrive before an Israelite king at just the right time. Remember also how God sent Jesus at just the right time, even when Israel had waited centuries for God's promised Messiah. God may not be limited by time, but He sure is timely.