We often talk about the Lord’s will, but sometimes fail to understand his timing. It is one thing to not know God’s will, it is another when that issue is fairly certain, and yet the timing of acting on it is still not revealed.

It is very human of us to get ahead of God’s timing when we know what His will is, and desperately want to fulfill it as soon as possible. Other times, we fear that worse things will happen to us if we don’t grab hold right now that which God is showing us. On the other hand waiting too long before embarking can cause us to miss out. We do this when His will seems difficult, scary, and we might feel uncertain as to what He is saying.

Regarding the former, King Saul was to wait for Samuel to come and perform the sacrifice, but his fear of seeing the people scattering caused him to get ahead of God’s plan. This cost him dearly!

The children of Israel were primed to enter the Promise Land, but the negative report of the ten spies caused them to shrink back from fulfilling their destiny. This too cost them dearly.

Recently I have been rereading the Gospel of John. I have been struck by how often the phrase, “but it was not his time” comes up in regards to people wanting to kill Jesus. This says to me how important God’s timing is in our lives.

When we seek the Lord regarding His will, we must also with equal diligence ask Him to show us the timing of when this is suppose to be accomplished. We do this by being in constant prayer and especially not letting circumstances push us off our course. Remembering to do this will remind us that timing is everything.