IT'S NOT YET TIME
- Jesus will act when he is ready
- It will turn out better than expected
Abraham badly wanted a son. And it wasn’t just an optimistic wish. Abraham knew he would one day receive a son because when he was 75 years old the Lord came to him and had promised to make his descendants into a great nation. But as the years passed and his wife Sarah remained barren and they were getting increasingly older, they had still not been blessed with a child of their own and Abraham wasn’t so sure that this promise would work out. And so Abraham approached the Lord one day and said, “O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless? You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir” (Genesis 15:2,3). But Abraham’s plea didn’t work. The Lord did not give him a son at that very instant. And no matter how many times Abraham appealed to the Lord and no matter what Abraham did to take the situation into his own hands - including sleeping with his maidservant - it was not yet time. It was not yet time for him to have the son that the Lord promised him. The Lord would not be pushed into doing something before he was ready. And Abraham ended up waiting 25 years for this promise to be fulfilled until finally at the age of 100 his son Isaac was born to him.
The Lord will keep his promises. He will not let one of his promises go unfulfilled. But he will not be forced, he will not be coerced, he will not be swayed to do anything before it is time to do it. He will act when he is ready. But when he does act, the results will always turn out better than anyone could have expected.
Jesus’ mother, Mary, came to understand this concept early on in her son’s ministry. They were at a wedding in the town of Cana at the time. Jesus’ disciples were there along with the usual crowd of friends and relatives that gathered for such events. But right in the middle of this extensive celebration, the banquet ran out of wine. And the gospel writer John records for us that “when the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, ‘They have no more wine.’ ‘Dear woman, why do you involve me?’ Jesus replied. ‘My time has not yet come.’” Now, Mary obviously understood who Jesus was. And she understood what he could do. And she understood that he was more than willing to help people out with the problems. There was nothing wrong with Mary’s faith. There was just something wrong with her timing. She tried to push Jesus to do something before he was ready to do it. But it was not yet time. Jesus would decide when and where and how and why he would display his glory to those around him. He would not be influenced by the urgency of the situation or even his own mother’s request. Jesus would determine when he was ready. And when the time was right, he would act.
As Christians we know and trust in the power of our God just as Mary did. We realize he can do anything: he created this entire world, he has protected his people from their enemies throughout the centuries, and he still does great and miraculous things for us today. We have no problem believing in the power of our Lord. And as Christian we also know and trust in the love of our God as well. He has shown this world grace as far back as the Garden of Eden, he has watched over his children in every age, and he still cares for and provides for his sheep right now. We have no problem believing in the love of our Lord either. But just like Mary, we don’t always know the will of our Lord. And sometimes we try to push him to demonstrate his power and love before he is ready to do it. We want him to act before it is time.
Because we all have plenty of opinions floating around inside of our heads, don’t we? And we all think that we have a pretty good idea about how something should be done and where something should be done and especially when something should be done. And we don’t mind giving the Lord our advice either! And so when we have a family member or relative who doesn’t go to church and doesn’t hear the Word of God on a regular basis, a person whom we’ve been working on and inviting and talking to for years, we then like to go to the Lord and say something along the lines of, “I think it’s time, Lord. It’s time to bring them back. It’s time to bring them in. I’m not sure what you’re waiting for, Lord! I’ve spread the Word. I’ve put in the effort. I want to see them in heaven with me and I don’t know how much longer they will have on this earth! They need some major help and they might completely slip away if something isn’t done right now!” And it’s difficult for us to admit that maybe it’s not yet time. Maybe it’s going to take a little longer. Maybe it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets any better. Maybe the Lord even has different plans altogether.
And that’s frustrating, isn’t it? It’s frustrating when the Lord’s plans do not coincide with our expert advice and well-positioned opinions! It’s frustrating to us when it seems as if the Lord misses opportunities. We are here as a congregation that is still too small to support itself. We belong to a group of Christians that relies on the funding of our church body to survive. We are a family of believers that has worked hard to spread the Word of God to those around us, that has longed to see this congregation grow in size and diversity, that has tirelessly searched for a piece of land on which we can live and to build a building that we can call our own. But it is not yet time. It is not yet time for those things to happen because they have not yet be given to us.
Yes, there have been opportunities that have come and gone. There have been promising situations that have arisen only to pass us by. And sometimes we get frustrated. We almost get a little aggravated because he doesn’t seem to take advantage of the openings that come our way. And we forget that he will act, but only when he is ready. He will carry out his will, but only when it is time. We do not know what is best. We do not understand how it can work out for our good. We are not able to predict when the right opportunity will present itself. But the Lord can. And if the right situation arises, he will act. If the time is ever right, he will take advantage of it. Because the Lord never misses an opportunity.
He didn’t miss the opportunity at the wedding in Cana - even though his mother was worried that it would pass him by. She immediately ran to Jesus when she saw the problem, and that was fine! We should go to the Lord when problems come up in our lives. But Mary wanted something done at that very moment. She wanted Jesus to do something right away. And so Jesus turned her down. But soon after Jesus reminded his mother Mary that his time had not yet come, the right opportunity did arise. He told some of the servants to fill up 6 stone water jars and then to take a sample of that water to the master of the banquet. When they did, the water had been miraculously turned into wine. The man in charge didn’t know what had happened and the groom didn’t seem to be cognizant of where it had come from, but the servants did and Jesus’ disciples found out and Mary certainly knew. Her son had acted when he was ready. And the results turned out better than she ever could have expected.
And that is true across the board. Whenever Jesus acts, it always turns out better than anyone could have expected. Just look at the way Jesus secured your salvation! It couldn’t have turned out any better! When the time was just right, Jesus came to this earth in the womb of a virgin. When everything was prepared by John the Baptist, Jesus started his ministry in the waters of the Jordan River. Whenever an opportunity arose to help the sick or preach the Word or proclaim his power in an appropriate way, he acted. When everything was set in place just the way it had to be, Jesus walked out to the Garden of Gethsemane with his disciples and was led to the Jewish courts under guard and stood before Pilate with a death sentence hanging over his head and marched out to Calvary to die on a cross. And there was no better time for Jesus to do what he did. Because there was no other time. Everything happened exactly the way Jesus had always planned it would. And it turned out better than anyone could have ever expected. The sins of all people were forgiven because of what Jesus did at exactly the right time. The lives of all believers were saved. Your eternity was assured. Our resurrection is now inevitable. And we can live this life in peace knowing that God promises us a place in the life to come.
And don’t fail realize: faithful Christians had to wait over 4000 years for this promise to come true! From the time Jesus gave that first promise of a Savior to Adam and Eve at the foot of the tree they were not supposed to eat from until the day he died on a tree that we deserved to hang on ourselves, 4000+ years passed by. For four millennia believers waited and waited and waited and prayed and prayed and prayed for Christ to come. But through all those centuries and all those wars and all those hardships and all those deaths that God’s people had to deal with, it was not yet time. It was not yet time for the Savior to come. Until the angel Gabriel came to Mary that night, until a man named Caiaphas was the high priest in the 33rd year of Jesus’ life, until two unknown criminals were set to be crucified on that particular afternoon… Then it was time. Then Jesus was ready. Then he acted. And the results were spectacular.
Trust that Jesus acts in your life at exactly the right time as well. And trust that he knows when to act better than you do. Things will come together according to his will just like he always has for his people. Just like he always will. And so there is no reason to be frustrated if the Lord has not yet given you the health you have asked him for. It is simply not yet time. There is no reason to be frustrated if the Lord has not yet given you the financial stability you have worked so hard for. It is simply not yet time. There is no reason to be frustrated if those around you do not yet appreciate the Lord as much as you want them to. It is simply not yet time. There is no reason to be frustrated if your relationship with your children or your spouse or your parents is not yet where you want it to be. It is simply not yet time. There is no reason to be frustrated if this congregation has not yet grown or your own personal life as a Christian has not yet progressed in the way you had hoped it would. It is simply not yet time. It may never be time. It may never be time for what you want. It may never be time for what you have hoped for or what you have planned for or what you have worked for. Because the Lord’s will does not operate on what you think is the best. The Lord’s will is governed by what he knows is the best. And when the times comes, he will give the best to us.
Nothing, nothing can be better than what the Lord does for the sake of his people. Nothing. Our advice, our opinions, our grand plans for what should be done and when it should be done are only good if they happen to match up with the Lord’s grand plans for us. And so, by all means, ask the Lord! Pray to him for what you want and what you hope for and what you strive after. Request that he might bless those things that you see as God-pleasing and that he help you carry out his work for the good of kingdom. But know that your plans might not be a part of his blueprint and, even if they are, your timing might be a little off. Rest on the fact that whatever needs to happen for the sake of our faith and our salvation, he will do. And when he does whatever he does, it will be far better than we could have ever expected.
Amen.
“Oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable is judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” - Romans 11:33,36
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