Is Your Watch Set to God’s Time?

Even though God lives outside of ‘time,’ He uses ‘time’ to accomplish His purposes—“a time for every purpose under heaven" (Ec. 3:1). At a wedding feast in Cana, the host ran out of wine, and when Mary asked for His assistance, Jesus replied, “My time has not yet come” (John 2:4). How did Jesus know the time?

Have you ever asked God for something really important, then grown impatient waiting for it? [This is a rhetorical question!] Since God is always “on time,” the reason for your impatience is that your ‘watch’ is out of sync with God’s. Remember when Martha and Mary (John 11) sent word to Jesus that their brother Lazarus was sick. Jesus delayed, and by their ‘watches’ he arrived too late: Lazarus was dead. Or remember when Jairus (Mark 5) asked Jesus to come to his house because his daughter was near death? On the way, Jesus stopped to minister to a woman who had been sick for 12 years. The delay caused Jesus to be too late: Jairus’ daughter died. They must have thought Jesus had rather ‘poor’ timing.

Jesus not only knew His heavenly Father's plans for His life, He knew the time for those plans. His internal clock was set to the Father’s time. In John 7:6 when his Disciples urged him to go up to Jerusalem, Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come." Because Jesus knew that His Father had a time-table, and because He knew nothing could interfere with it, He could be patient.

At just the right time, Jesus arrived at the home of Mary and Martha, and at the home of Jairus. But instead of healing Lazarus and Jairus’ daughter, He raised them from the dead! So, how will you respond when your plans have died because God has ‘failed’ to show up on time? Remember Martha and Mary. Remember Jairus. Look what He did for them. Is your watch set to God’s time? You will probably have to re-set it frequently…maybe even daily?!