At the proper time

"… God … promised before the ages began, and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted …" (Titus 1:2-3).

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you" (1 Peter 5:6).

"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up" (Galatians 6:9).

"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans 5:6).

God is meticulous about His timing. As Jesus said to His brothers when they were still clueless about spiritual things: "My time has not yet come, but your time is always here" (John 7:6). Because you and I are sometimes casual or lackadaisical about time, we might unconsciously interpret Scripture in the same worldly way.

God says, "in due season [or, "in due time"] we will reap," but you and I may filter those words through childhood promises never fulfilled, and the memory of adults carelessly wielding the phrase to get us off their backs: "I'll take you to Disneyland in due time; now leave me alone and go play."

It is as if we think God is like a human, giving us the brush. We anthropomorphize Him and imagine that He has only the vaguest idea of the future timing of what He has committed Himself to: Could be in a month, could be in 10 years-who knows?

"The economy will improve in due time," we breezily affirm, as a way of dismissing the unpleasant subject. Or, "I have $20,000 in college debt, but I'll pay it off in due time." Or, "That student is lousy at algebra, but he'll catch on in due time." It is the great wastebasket expression for indefinite and iffy fruition of a hoped-for outcome.

We must resist the knee-jerk temptation to interpret any of God's words according to worldly peccadilloes. When God says He will do something for you "in due time," it is because He has a very particular and well-thought-out plan, a plan that requires certain steps to be carried out in a certain sequence.

If you have asked God for something in prayer, and you believe your request is according to His stated will, and if you have not yet received it, then believe that it is in the works. It will come and not delay "at the proper time." It may be that God is waiting on specific things to happen in your life first, and specific responses on your part. He takes us through the desert to test us and see what is in our hearts. And then He lifts us up-not a minute too early or too late, but "at the proper time."