Timed to Perfection
When I first looked at the calendar date for this year’s Easter Sunday, I thought, “Ah, spring will certainly be in full bloom by April 20.” Spring’s arrival, however, proffered different plans. The colder weather lingered deep into April causing the natural world to remain dormant. Finally, at the writing of this article: flowers are blooming; leaves are emerging; and annoying insects are buzzing. While the spring’s onset seemed 2-3 weeks late, I never doubted its arrival. I knew the glisten of new life was coming – its timing just mismatched with my expectations. With God, oftentimes, our expectation of timing mismatches with God’s plans. We think renewal should have arrived by now, but the bleakness of life’s dormancy contines to linger. Surely, the blessings will flow, but in the present, what shall we do?
In the Bible, Israel’s first king – Saul – provides an exemplary example of how not to respond to a delayed arrival. While Saul was leading a group of 3,000 soldiers, the Philistines assembled to fight Israel, with 3,000 chariots, 6,000 charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore (1 Samuel 13.5). By my rough math estimates, the Philistines greatly outnumbered the Israelite army. Saul’s fighting men seemed to concur with my estimations: many began to hide, flee, and desert. Those who remained were quaking with fear (v.7).
King Saul waited anxiously for Samuel, their great spiritual leader to arrive. Tick … tock … tick … tock. When Samuel failed to arrive at his expected time, King Saul performs the sacrifices reserved for the late-arriving priest. Just as the king completes his unholy task, Samuel arrives and queries the impatient ruler, “What have you done?” (v.11) … you have done a foolish thing (v.13). The king, we realize, failed to wait on God’s timing. He looked out and saw a formidable foe. Greatly outnumbered (and increasingly so thanks to his deserters), Saul bypassed God’s timing to enact God’s plan. The consequences were severe. Samuel explains: You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure (vs.13-14).
Now, let’s consider a counter example: Cornelius. During the early years of the church, a devout and God-fearing centurion received an angelic message: ‘Send for Peter.’ So, Cornelius follows instructions. Upon sending his trusted servants to Peter, the centurion waits. God, we learn, still needed to teach Peter an important lesson about the Creator’s acceptance of all people. And just as God completes this lesson, Cornelius’s servants providentially arrive and deliver their message: ‘Go to Cornelius.’
Peter follows the servant’s instructions but lacks their same haste. While they completed the 35-mile journey in about a day, Peter waits a half-day to start and then travels for two days . All the while, Cornelius waits urgently for their arrival. Later in the story, when Peter finally arrives at the centurion’s home, we find Cornelius has waited well. Instead of attempting to accelerate God’s timing or complaining about God’s apparent inactivity or anything else other than waiting as directed, Cornelius has readied himself for God’s unfolding plan. Cornelius, we learn, has amassed a crowd: The following day [Peter] arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends (Acts 10.24) ... Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people (v.27). Indeed, Cornelius did wait well. He readied himself and others for God’s forthcoming provision.
God’s timing often mismatches our own. We want things when we want things. At times, we imitate Saul’s impatience: we look at our already invested time and assume, “Surely, that is sufficient.” We move forward in haste, and consequently, find ourselves out-of-sync with God. Rather, we need to imitate Cornelius’s patience. We need to match ourselves to God’s timing; we need to ready ourselves for God’s imminent action. And in due time, God’s intervention will be timed to perfection.
