God's Perfect Timing

I have spent the past two days reading and re-reading the passage that I was asked to blog on. Waiting on some understanding, for something to click and "just make sense." I read the passage in the New International Version, The Message version, the New Living translation, the English Standard version. Just waiting for the message that I needed to pop off the page and grab my attention.

This last time, while reading The Message version, I re-read the previous passage and there it was.

The beginning of Acts 1:9 reads, "These were his last words." So often, emphasis is put on last words. A prisoner being put to death gets to state his last words. Wise rulers manytimes has infamous last words. Numerous quotes talk about last words. We always try to get the last word in an arguement. There is significance in last words.

So, I looked at the previous verses to see what Jesus' last words were before the ascention. They were, "You don't get to know the time. Timing is the Father's business. What you'll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world."

I know that Jesus is speaking of his return to earth, the time when everything will end, but to me, it rang true for everything in life.

So often, we try to make things happen at certain points in our life. Teenagers try to find their spouse, couples try to have children, adults try to live in financial stability, the unemployed try to find jobs...in all circumstances, so often, we try to control when things happen. We also try to control when things don't happen. We do everything possible to "proof" our lives, to protect them from things that we do not want. We create savings accounts in case of emergency, we try to ensure our jobs, we attempt to protect our marriages, be healthy, but things happen no matter how hard we work to stop them. Lay offs happen. Affairs happen. Fires and natural disasters happen. Cancer and disease happens.

When you step back from the emotionality of your life and your situation, you are better able to see God's perfect timing in it all. From the thousand dollar check that comes as your cupboards become bare, to the life altering reality that leads you to a new relationship with Christ, God is the one controlling it all. And we must allow and open our hearts to the Holy Spirit in order to use our lives to grow and understand and be able to witness to others. We must pray for understanding and when He knows the timing is right, he will use you in the lives of others in ways that you could never have imagined. His timing truely is perfect, but of course, it is God we are talking about. It would never be anything less.