Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.
Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a
maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that
he have mercy upon us (Psalms 123:1-2).
When Corrie Ten Boom of The Hiding Place fame was a little girl in
Holland, her first realization of death came after a visit to the home of a neighbor who
had died. It impressed her that some day her parents would also die. Corrie's father
comforted her with words of wisdom. "Corrie, when you and I go to Amsterdam, when do
I give you your ticket?" "Why, just before we get on the train," she
replied. "Exactly," her father said, "and our wise Father in heaven knows
when we're going to need things too. Don't run out ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time
comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the
strength you need--just in time (Today in the Word, MBI, October, 1991, p. 30).
Words like, "patience" and "waiting" would almost seem like dirty
words in our fast paced society today. We don't much care to wait a few minutes much
less a few months, or a few decades. Consider that Israel had to wait 40 years before
entering the promised land, or that Abraham and Sarah had to wait 25 years from the time
God promised them a son, until the time He fulfilled that promise through Isaac. Given a
waiting period like that, many of us might take matters into our own hands. We might
become anxious, overwrought, disillusioned, frightened, or even forgetful. Nevertheless,
our God is faithful.
We are given assurance through God's Spirit, His Word and through the testimony of others
that He is faithful. But making His faithfulness and His timing real to us may only come
through the matter of personal experience, and through much time of waiting. Time and time
again, we will approach a time, or endure a time, and we will wait for a time--and then
possibly, within time, we will learn that time is not our adversary because He who holds
the keys of time will be faithful to respond "just in time."
Scripture encourages us to be prepared, to use time wisely, and to redeem the time. But we
are equally encouraged not to worry about tomorrow and not to become anxious of future
possible troubles. We are encouraged to trust God for His provision, to respond to life
wisely, maintaining balance in our daily walk with God. And we are encouraged always to
wait upon the Lord.
Why? Because His timing is perfect. Many mistakes are born from impatience, and many
disasters from hastiness. God's plan for your life must be allowed to unfold at its own
rate. His plan does not need us to push it along, but requires us to follow in obedience.
We can become anxious about the life and death of a parent, about the birth of a child,
about whether we will have what we need to live today, tomorrow and six months from now.
But God is faithful and the Ruler over time. By His wisdom He has set time in motion, as
well as every plan for the life of every man, woman and child on the planet.
May God grant each of us patience and wisdom to wait. May He help us not to become
hasty and jump the gun ahead of His schedule. And may He teach us today to practice
waiting so we may discover His faithfulness, and that His faithfulness will always be
there--just in time.
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