Friday, March 03, 2006

I was sent to Costco from work yesterday, to pick up a few things. One thing we needed was a larger, easier to read clock than the one we had. I found one. It's an 'atomic clock,' which receives a radio signal from 'NIST,' (National Institute of Standards and Technology) in Fort Collins, Colorado. It sets itself and keeps very accurate time, matching a standard which ensures that the clock will be accurate within 2 nanoseconds per day, or roughly 1 second in 1,400,000 years. That's accurate. For a cesium clock that's accurate. For God's purposes, it's horribly inaccurate.
Like everything about Him, God's timing is perfect. Can you imagine if when you were in a chat room, for example, and that person who needed help came in 2 nanoseconds after you left, but you were the person whom God had personally equipped to show Jesus to them, and to share Jesus with them?
If His timing had been off by 2 nanoseconds, things would have been very different for the young lady in chat that He did a wonderful work in. The finger was resting on the mouse button and the cursor on the 'X', and the impulse to close the window was stopped in an instant when the nick, 'seeker' appeared. She truly was seeking, and she found Him, in His time, with His marvelous timing. Yes, this happened.
I have a friend who was a very new Christian, and a young woman approached him on the street in Big Bear, California, when he was about to get into his car. She was selling magazines and asked him if he wanted to buy one. He told her, "No thanks. I don't need any." She turned and walked away, and as he was getting into his car, he stumbled, one leg in, one leg out and practically fell over to call after her, "But I might have something that you need." Her curiosity was peaked, and he shared the Savior's truth with her and she yielded her heart to him minutes later, there, in the street, and in God's perfect timing. Was this a chance meeting? I don't think so. That young man of sixteen is now in his forties, and has led many people to Jesus, and pastors a church where people are consistently leading others to Him as well. That young man began his road to a calling to the ministry in God's wonderfully accurate time.
There is God's timing in our lives. The trick is not to ignore it. Can we ignore God's timing? People ignore Him every day. We aren't supposed to be those people. So whatever He sends our way, in that still small voice, or in His printed word, or in a word of knowledge that a friend may not even know she is delivering to us, or that odd situation that just can't be, let's entrust the timing to God and His leading.

1 Peter 5:6-106 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. NKJV

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