There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven…He has made everything beautiful in its time.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 & 11 (NIV)

Here in a vision, God reveals his plans to the prophet Habakkuk. But he also warns him that the manifestation will be at such a time as he the Lord God Almighty has set – “the appointed time”. Habakkuk was to wait for the appointed time to come. 

I have found through interviews, discussions and personal experience that our perception of delays from God is because we track progress by our own timetable and not God’s. But the psalmist says in Psalm 31:15…My times are in thy hand. One translation of the bible says … he controls my destiny. 

“God’s times are not in our hands; our times are in his hands”

In these days of supersonic everything – fast food, fast track, on demand services etc it is very common to find believers who are frustrated by delays in the manifestation of God’s promises and blessings in their lives. The danger here is that some of these believers tend to “jump the gun” in an attempt to remediate what they unfortunately perceive as delays caused by God. This type of mindset, rather than being an enhancement to our lives, tends to produce disruptive results. 

It high time we start to appreciate that God is in control of our times, and has appointed seasons for different thing he has purposed to do in our lives. One of the best ways to appreciate spiritual timing – its dimensions and complexities and speed is by studying LIGHT. Light travels so fast that it is used by astronomers to measure very, very large distances.   

Light year: Definition 

By definition, a light year is the distance that light travels in a year. The speed of light in kilometres per second is three hundred thousand kilometres (300, 000). If you do the calculation:  300 000 kilometres/sec x 60 sec/min x 60 min/hr x 24 hr/day x 365 days/yr gives the distance of a light year as 9,460,800,000,000 kilometres.  At the speed of light through the universe the time taken to travel from Earth to the moon is 1.28 seconds, from the Sun to Earth 8.5 minutes   and from the Sun to Mercury 3 minutes.     

When time Stops:  

Theoretically, the faster you go, the smaller time becomes. It is possible to suggest that between certain distances, and travelling at the speed of light or possibly faster, TIME can be reduced to zero – comes to a STOP.  I mean if you are travelling at the speed of light, how long it takes you to get to your corner shop (I hope you can see the point I am getting at).

The Father of Lights – God of Time and Timelessness:  

The Bible tells us that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. 1John 1:5 But more importantly, that God is the Father of Lights with whom there is no variableness nor shadow…James 1:17. In John 1:1-4, we are told that God is light, and that this type of Light can not be overcome by darkness. Even the light we can see was created by God. Gen 1:2-5. The bible also says;1 Timothy 6:16 that God dwells in thelight which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see. I therefore submit to you that: 

One – As the Father of Lights, God operates at an unfathomable speed, so fast that he can not be seen how much less measured by our feeble timing mechanisms. He is incomparably faster than the speed of light which is known to man. Because God is infinite and immeasurable, the speed at which he operates is infinite.  

Two – The speed and power behind the operations of God is so powerful that he can not be slowed down, how much less stopped by the powers of darkness. (John 1:1-4).

Three – At the speed which God moves, He is not bound by time. What we calibrate as time in our human realm makes no difference to God. It does not constitute a boundary to God because God is immortal and Everlasting. When God moves in his realm, time is effectively reduced to zero. That is why the bible says in 2 Peter 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. In other words the way we measure time is insignificant to God. 

The point I am driving at here is that God can never be late. He will always be there on time as he has promised (…He that will come will come and not tarry). The bible says in Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge a very present help. God is always so prompt that you can say he has always been there. 

Listen, God was there before you got into trouble. Before the enemy showed up with challenges in your life, God was already there with the answer. God is not taken by surprise. God is not a reactor; He is the Creator who settles the end from the beginning. As the bible says in Isaiah 46:10…Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.  

The Beauty of His Time 

Although God is not bound by time, He created time and man and put man in a realm where time is relevant (Genesis 1:2-5, 26, Eccl 3:1). And time will remain for as long as the earth remains – Genesis 8:22. That is why we are to live our lives with intelligent recognition of times (both spiritual and earthly). We are not to live reckless lives. Hence God teaches us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom PS 90:12.  

The beauty of God’s time (spiritual timing) is when we recognise the purpose of God for us (those things that God have appointed to happen in his set time) and wait for the time to come.  

The story was once told of a young boy who was looking out through the window of his room and saw an insect that was trapped in a cocoon struggling to get out. So he went and picked the insect and presuming to help, he cut the insect free from its entanglement. But unfortunately the insect died. Latter the young man realised that his untimely intervention had just killed a pupa on its way to becoming a beautiful butterfly. 

Even when God hastens things, it shall still be in His time… Isaiah 60:22 …A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time.  

There are Three Types of People: 

1. Those unaware of God’s promises: This category of people are unaware that God has given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature (2Pe 1:4). They are also unaware that all the promises of God in him (Jesus Christ) are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us (2Co 1:20). They are unaware that it is the will of God that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith (Gal 3:14). And in their ignorance they are also unexpectant. These set of people tend to receive nothing. 
2. Those aware of God’s promises but unaware of God’s timing. This category of people know the scriptures and are aware of God’s promises. However they are unaware of the need to wait for the appointed time. So they either become discourage, impatient or cynical. These people become slothful instead of followers of those who through faith and patience inherit the promise (Heb 6:12). They become scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation (2Pe 3:3-4). These set of people, even though they are aware of the promise; do not receive it because they lack patience. 
3. Those aware of the promises and God’s Timing. These set of people are in the winning class. They know the promises of God and understand the spiritual timing associated with them. They remain steadfast and unmovable, knowing that God’s promise does not fail for ever (Psalm 77:8). They are patient because they understand that when we hope for what we do not see, then we are to wait patiently for it (Romans 8:25). They also understand that the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2Pe 3:9). They are sure there is an end to waiting; and their expectation shall not be cut off (Proverbs 23:18).  

God wants us to have the mindset of this third set of people. Whatever God has promised you and whatever it is that you are expecting, if it delays in manifesting wait for it, for it shall come and not delay.  

In His Time not Ours 

Often, when things appear to tarry, it is because of the way we view them. If you measure progress by your own timetable, then he that will come may appear to tarry. If you measure progress by God’s timing, then he that will come will come.  

When you are travelling between two time zones, assessing your progress by looking at the time in a different zone will lead you to wrong conclusions

When Lazarus was sick his sisters sent for Jesus. But When Jesus heard that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was (John 11:6). By the time Jesus got to Lazarus, he had been dead for four days (John 11:17). To Martha, Jesus was too late. She said to him; “…Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died” (John 11:21).  But Jesus responded very sharply “…Thy brother shall rise again (John 11:23).” However Martha got religious and said unto him, “…I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day” (John 11:24)”. But her response clearly shows that she had missed the point. Jesus was not talking about some time restricted resurrection in the sweet by and by. So Jesus said unto her “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:” Jesus was simply saying, hey, I am here now and it doesn’t matter whether Lazarus had been dead for ten or a thousand years, all that matters is that I AM (have always been and will always be) the resurrection no matter what the time says, and by my power Lazarus will rise.  And indeed Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. It seems to me that this delay was deliberately and that Jesus wanted to demonstrate to man that what we call lateness based on our timetable does not limit God from doing what he wants to do when He is ready to do it.  

God is who He is and will do what He plans to do. He can never be diminished no matter what time is. In his time he will make all things beautiful for those who wait for Him 

May the Lord give you understanding and may your life be made beautiful in his time through Jesus Christ. Amen!