JOHN SHIRK – In the Year of Trust, today’s Focus on God examines His perfect timing.

According to Romans 5:6, it was at the right time, when we were still powerless when Christ died for the ungodly. Let that statement sink in. He did not wait for us to get our act together to come to us. He came to us in the midst of our junk and filth and depravity. He came when we needed Him most.

Verse 8 says that God demonstrates his love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us.

If Jesus would have waited for us to shape up before coming to earth, He would have never come. But He did come, and that is because of His deep, deep love for us. He came to us so that we could be saved from our sins and enjoy a relationship with Him forever.

God’s timing may not be our timing, but He is never too early and He is never too late. He knows exactly when to intervene, and He will know when to come again for His treasured possession.

The perfect timing of the LORD is a reason to trust in God for today and forever.

John Shirk

john@wjtl.com

JOHN SHIRK – In the Year of Exploration, today’s Reason to Believe is God’s perfect timing.

Second Peter 3:9 tells us that the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise. His promises may be fulfilled at a slower pace than we would prefer, but that does not mean that God is running behind schedule. It might mean that we are trying to run ahead of Him. Going at God’s timing sometimes requires waiting on the Lord.

An example of God’s perfect timing can be found in John chapter 4, when a royal official asked Jesus to heal his son before he died. Jesus replied, “You may go. Your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was a long way off, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When the royal official inquired as to the time when his son got better, they told him that the fever left him at the seventh hour. Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus said to him, “your son will live.” So, he and all his household believed.

According to Romans 5:6, it was at just the right time when Christ died for the ungodly.

God’s perfect timing to fulfill His perfect will is a reason to believe in God’s good news.

John Shirk

john@wjtl.com