The Right Moment

Do you ever feel like you're in a season where you just can't seem to make sense of anything? I'm there people. If there is one thing (although there are MANY) that the Lord is clearly teaching me, it's that I cannot understand His ways...and certainly not His timing.

I think about in the Bible when Lazarus is dying and Jesus chose to stay where he was rather than prevent his death. I wonder if Lazarus' sisters thought, "I don't understand! If Jesus loves Lazarus so much, why isn't he rushing to his side to heal him?" But Jesus knew that his glory would be greater shown in the death of Lazarus. I think about the disciples being in the midst of the storm while Jesus slept on the boat and I'm sure they thought, "I don't understand how he can be sleeping? Doesn't he know what we're going through? Certainly he must realize the danger that we're in!" But Jesus waited for the right moment, allowing them to witness Him in more powerful ways by his perfectly timed arrival.

His perfect timing...not mine.

Today Mike Glenn posted an article called "In the fullness of time" where he talks about chronos (chronology) and kairos (right moments). He goes on to say...

While there might not be an exact time (chronos) there's certainly a right moment (kairos). And God deals with right moments.

You see it all the time in the Bible. "In the fullness of time," God acted. When everything was just right, God moved.

The problem most of us have is that we're driven by chronological time. That means we expect things to be done by a certain time.

I'll be completely honest, I have a really hard time with chronos vs. kairos. I certainly don't want anything before it's God's time, but I struggle with patience, understanding and letting go of planning and letting God lead instead.

Here I am on the precipice of a major new season in my life where God has so very clearly orchestrated all of the details in ways I could have never imagined, but I still doubt because I can't see the full picture. I'm afraid I won't find housing. I'm afraid I'll struggle to make friends. I'm afraid I won't have enough work and then won't be able to find a job. I'm afraid I'll be terribly lonely.

But then I look at all that God has done over the past 3+ years of my life to bring me to this moment. I may not understand today, tomorrow or the next day, but I trust that his timing is perfect. His ways are higher than my ways. He works everything together for good. I will never be disappointed if I hope in Him. God doesn’t call us to a ‘place’ and then forget about us. He always provides. But we cannot rush Him. We need to patiently wait for Him to move. He is never late. He is always on time, HIS time.

O waiting soul, be still, be strong,
And though He tarry, trust and wait;
Doubt not, He will not wait too long,
Fear not, He will not come too late.