Dear Explorer,
Read John 7:1-9
Remember that there were 3 Jewish Feasts that required that all Jewish males come to Jerusalem to celebrate at the temple. His brothers were all going to the Feast and they encouraged Jesus to come, too. But Jesus said that the time was not right.
I want to spend just a little bit of time talking about God's timing. There are many, many followers of Jesus who seek to know God's will for special things – where they should go to college, who they should marry, where they should live, what career to choose, etc. But I've found that very few consider God's timing.
My husband and I met during our senior year in high school. After 6 months of dating, we were pretty sure that God was leading us into marriage. But what we didn't know was when. We wanted to know both. Why? Because God's will also comes with God's timing. If we had married too soon, we might not have been ready. If we had married later, we might have been too independent. God knew the perfect time. Until we were both sure of the timing, we waited. I continued to do what I felt God had called me to do and David continued to do what he felt God had called him to do and we waited. Two and a ½ years later, God began to show us His plan for our marriage and we started making plans for the wedding in June after David graduated from college. But my parents asked us to wait until August because they wanted to spend time with me before we moved to Arizona. To honor our parents (one of God's commands) we waited another 2 months. So that when we married, we were perfectly in harmony with God's plans for us.
A friend of mine had a beautiful vision of a ministry that she wanted to start. She went to her pastor and he said “no”. Instead of waiting for God to open the door, she quit the church and got mad at God. She was angry at the minister for years. I don't know whether she's ever gotten over her anger. But the truth was – I think she would have been a great leader for the ministry – but she wasn't quite grown up enough spiritually to handle it right then. I think God was giving her a glimpse of a future ministry that had she remained faithful, would have happened a few years down the road.
I just want to encourage you to listen to God's voice regarding the timing as well as the direction! Jesus listened to both!
In His service, dale
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