The Pastor's Place

I am reading the One Year Bible again this year, and today's passage from Exodus got me to thinking about God's timing. The Israelites left their homes in Canaan to escape the famine (during the days of Jacob & Joseph) and now 400 years later they have become slaves in the land of their original rescue. The relatively small family of Jacob has become the captive nation of Israel (over 2 million strong). Cut to Moses:  He is 40 years old when he runs away to Midian. Forty years later, he meets God at the burning bush on Mount Sinai. Add all of this together and you get verse 25 - "He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act."

Think about it: after 40 years of exile and at 80 years old, from the palace to the paddock, from son of Pharaoh to son-in-law of a rural priest, (oh yeah, and don't forget the reason that Moses was in exile was because he murdered someone!); at just the right time, God sends Moses to deliver Israel. Moses goes from being drawn out of the water to being called out by God.

How important is this for you and me? God is watching over us. He knows our past - our flaws and our worst failures. God didn't dismiss Moses' past, He used it to mold him into a man that he could use.  He is aware of our present situation.  Those 40 years caring for someone else's sheep?  Not wasted at all!  God knows our future.  Think about it this way: what God did in Moses affected the whole nation of Israel.  What God is doing in your life?  Only He knows the impact it will have on others.


It was a promise to Israel, but it certainly has personal application:

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

(Jeremiah 29:11-14, NIV)      

God has a plan for your life and He won't give up on it.  No matter how complicated the calculus of your life, He is doing the math and His timing is still flawless.  I don't know how He will do it.  I'm just not that smart.  "When will He do it?"  Again, my ignorance reigns.  When it's best for us, I'm sure.  I'm reminded again of Paul's statement to the Romans: "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly" (5:6).

God knows the how and the when. Will you trust Him?  Even if you feel like a failure?  Even if you feel like you've been exiled to the desert for 40 years?  He will deliver on His promises. You can count on Him to come through for you...at just the right time.

Labels: exile, God's timing, Jeremiah 29:11, Moses, past, Romans 5:6