Summary:
God’s time and man’s time are different. In the eyes of humans, God’s time means eternity. And the time that man thinks of is limited. But God is not constrained by time. We are constrained to 24 hours in a single day. Find out more about God’s time in this sermon.

The topic for our mutual encouragement today is “In His Time”.

God’s time and man’s time are different. In the eyes of humans, God’s time means eternity. And the time that man thinks of is limited. But God is not constrained by time. We are constrained to 24 hours in a single day.

2 Peter 3:8
But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

This is what Peter says. God sees one day as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. This is not something we can understand rationally. If one day is a thousand years, a thousand years will be 365 000 000 days. How can a thousand years be as one day? The point here is that God’s time is not something that human beings can fathom. Neither is it something that man can hope to know.

We often hope to know when certain events will happen. But the thing is, these answers are usually not given to us. Just as it is recorded in Matthew 24:36.

Matthew 24:36
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.

The disciples asked Jesus when the end of the world would happen. But Jesus told them that nobody knows this thing except the Father. And before Jesus ascended to heaven, the disciples asked again in Acts 1.

Acts 1:6-7
Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.

They asked when the Lord will once again revive the kingdom of Israel. Jesus told them that this timing was not for them to know. Even King Solomon said the same thing.

Ecclesiastes 3:1
To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:

Ecclesiastes 8:6a
Because for every matter there is a time and judgment,

In all things in this world, God has appointed a time. And God’s judgement is present in making these things happen, regardless of whether these things are good, bad or smooth sailing. Whether we like it or not, the timing has already been decided.

Especially when our experiences in life grow, we will begin to realise that time and opportunity are not always in our grasp. We may prepare in many ways, but we often have this feeling that we have made all the preparations and all that is left is for the opportunity to happen.

This waiting for time is like a person waiting for his fruits to ripen. If someone doesn’t want to wait and plucks the fruit before it ripens, there are only two outcomes. The first is to store it up and if it doesn’t ripen, it will just rot. The other is that if he keeps it, it ripens but it will not taste as good.

If we waited for a while more, the fruit would have given its fragrance and we know that it is ripened for us to take away. And when you take it when it is most ripe, it will taste good. But you need to be the first one to pluck it off, otherwise, other animals will eat it.

In my old house, my father grew a few mango trees. Once the mangoes ripened, they would give off a smell. Although I wasn’t as tall then when I was young, when the mango ripens, it will start to drop and I can grab it with my hands. On one side, the mango looks very nice, but when I turn it around, I realise that there is a big hole. Other animals have already eaten the mango.

The Bible tells us, “See how the farmer patiently waits for his crops.” In God’s time, He makes all things beautiful. We have to wait for Him. When we talk about time, we inevitably talk about waiting.

At what time should we be doing what things? When we are studying, we put in effort in our studies. If we are at a marriageable age, we look to get married and so on. But sometimes, we feel that when we are at a certain age, we have not achieved certain things that we are supposed to achieve.

For example, you are of marriageable age but you haven’t found someone to get married to in the church. As you grow older, you realise everyone around you starts to get married and you feel that you are supposed to do the same. There is a lot more pressure. At that point in time, what is our reaction? Either we wait and hold on to our resolve that we will marry in the Lord, or we just give up on our principles and marry whoever we meet.

In life, we have similar experiences, not just in marriage. In our studies, in our praying for the Holy Spirit, in our career, or when we are raising our children. But do we wait for God’s time? Do we believe that God will make everything beautiful in His time?

Genesis 15:4
And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”

Genesis 15:2
But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

When God said that He would greatly bless Abraham, Abraham made a joke and he says, “No matter how much You bless me, all these things will then go to my servants. In verse 4, God once again affirmed His promise to Abraham. “Your heir shall not be your servant, but one who comes from your own body.”

Of course, God did not give him instructions, saying, “You should marry another woman who would bear you a son.” To see what happened after that, we look at Genesis 16:1-2.

Genesis 16:1-2
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.

Here, we see that Sarai took things into her own hands. She asked her husband to marry another wife to bear children. She also complained that God did not allow her to bear children. So, it seems as if she was doing so to justify her actions and comfort herself. But if God had already promised that Abraham would have a son, why would He go back on this promise? In the book of Numbers, it is mentioned that God is not a man, that He should regret.

Waiting is in fact a training of our faith. It demands that we wait for God’s time quietly, to wait for Him to fulfil His promises. When we wait silently, we do not murmur. But often we find we lack the patience to do so. When we are unable to wait any longer, we begin to twist the word of God.

In Sarah’s case, she saw God’s promise as a curse. So, she took matters into her own hands and did what she thought was right. In the short term, it seems that the problem was solved. But actually, this led to greater problems down the road. For example, in this incident of Sarai, indeed, she had a son through Hagar, but after that, her maidservant despised her. Eventually, this led to many domestic disputes.

If you used the previous example, maybe we chose a spouse of a different faith. But our marital problems are not just solved by this alone. In fact, this may lead to other more far-reaching problems in the future, including whether you should go to church on the Sabbath to worship, whether you want to do church work, or whether your child would be baptised when you give birth to children.

We look at another example: the sufferings of Joseph. We know this story well. Joseph could have given up on God over the different struggles that he experienced. For example, when he was being seduced by Potiphar’s wife, he could have succumbed to it. Maybe that was the state of society’s values at that time. Or he could have done whatever he wanted in the prison because the jailor trusted Joseph completely. He could have said that God didn’t care about him and that He caused his brothers to sell him. He could have been like Job’s wife. He could have just cursed God and died.

However, we see that Joseph’s heart was different from that of the people of the world. He still kept God’s words. He was very firm in his belief in God’s promises, like when he saw the dream that the sun, the moon and the stars bowed down to him. Maybe this dream was the reason why he was able to hang on to his faith in the prison. So, God kept His promises to Joseph. When the time came, the way was opened for him very quickly.

Genesis 45:5-8
But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

After the sufferings had been over, Joseph looked back.

In these few verses, Joseph mentioned three times that it was God who sent him. The purpose was to preserve the lives of his family. So, through Joseph’s perseverance, God made everything beautiful.

I know of this believer who was intent on marrying in the Lord. Even though age caught up on this believer, and it seemed that this person would be forever alone, God has His miraculous workings. When it seemed that there was no more hope, God opened a way. So, this grace came upon this believer according to his faith. We look at another example.

John 11: 6-7
So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”

Here, Lazarus fell ill. Jesus had stayed two more days in the place where He was before He went over.

John 11:17
So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.

When Jesus arrived, Lazarus had been dead for four days.

John 11:21
Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.

John 11:32
Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

All of the siblings of Lazarus believed that if Jesus had arrived earlier, their brother would not have died.

In our prayers, while we are waiting, Jesus has already heard us. But our Lord Jesus deliberately delays His help. We might say that if Jesus had followed our timing and had come earlier, today wouldn’t be in this sad state. But of course, Jesus’ delay was not to torture people.

John 11:4
When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

The reason for this delay is so that the Son of God may be glorified through it. This is because there would be many people who would believe in Jesus because He brought someone back from the dead.

John 11:45
Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him.

John 12:9-11
Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.

This incident of resurrecting the dead led many people to believe in Jesus. When it comes to sickness or death, it is not good to see. But all this delay was to glorify God. All these three siblings experienced the pain as they were waiting. But eventually, God made all things beautiful in His time.

The question is whether or not we are willing to use our lives to wait for the timing of this eternal God. Even if this waiting is a very painful process. Even if we wait and face a lot of short term disappointment.

When we wait for God’s time, we learn how to deny ourselves. We put down our own agency. We put down our ability to make our own independent decisions. And, we put down our self-interests. We let God lead us according to His time. While waiting, we might feel disappointed or discouraged. We feel weak and exhausted. Indeed, when one waits for their own time, this is the experience.

Isaiah 40:29-31
He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

When man waits for God’s time, the outcome is completely different. “They shall renew their strength, they shall mount up their wings like eagles.” In God’s time, He will allow all things to be renewed.

God is waiting for us. When we talk about God’s time, do we think of this fact? In what manner is God waiting for? There is this Chinese saying that goes that you pull up the plant to help it grow.

There is this farmer who was sowing seeds. After some time, the seeds started to sprout and grew into a plant. Then, the farmer decided that he had a brilliant plan. “Why don’t I pull up this plant by maybe a small centimetre today and I’ll do the same thing tomorrow and this will make it grow faster?” But he didn’t realise that after he pulled up this plant, it would die the next day because he damaged the roots of the plant.

1 Corinthians 3:9
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.

Here mentions that we are God’s field. Isaiah chapter 5 also tells us that we are God’s vineyard. Our God is not like the farmer in this Chinese saying. He does not force us to grow up faster than we need to. In contrast, we look at the parable in Luke.

Luke 13:6-9
He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ ”

There is a landowner who was waiting patiently. Although this tree did not bear fruit for three years the master was willing to wait another year.

Haven’t we disappointed our God many times? Hasn’t our God been waiting for us time and time again? Of course, God can do what He did in Genesis. His Spirit floated above the waters and with one word, He made all things happen. But when it comes to ourselves, God rarely makes such instant changes.

We have heard of certain testimonies where God has enabled people to change their bad habits in an instant. But we have never heard of God changing someone’s personality in an instant.

In our spiritual nurture, where we put off the old man and put on the new man, God is willing to wait for us. But actually, it is because we don’t know ourselves well enough and we think that we are already ready to be used by God anytime.

Why hasn’t God’s time come? Paul says that we should look for good works. This is not because we acknowledge that we have prepared already. But we have to be aware of where we fall short. We have to realise how much we lack between our current state and the ready state that we should be for the work we esteem. For example, Isaiah realised his lips were unclean.

The amount of time God spends waiting for us is much longer than we think. The more full of ourselves we think we are, the more time God may be waiting for us. This is because we often see the speck in other people’s eyes but we do not see the plank in our own eyes. Isn’t this something very ironic?

For us to deal with this plank in our eyes, God is waiting for us. But in our lives, we often find ourselves stopping at a certain state. We stay in this state until God is satisfied with our outcomes. So, we mustn’t just think that we are waiting for God, but we must also realise that God is waiting for us. It is just that we are not usually aware of God’s time and methods.

In order to deliver the people of Israel out of Egypt, God waited an extra 40 years. He waited for Moses to develop in the wilderness. If Moses was to deliver the people of Israel as a prince, I’m not sure how many Israelites he would have killed in order to manage the people. But were there 40 years of regression? Or was it a 40-year pause? Or was it 40 years of progress? From someone who was very hot-headed, he became a very humble, gentle person. From someone who knew many things and could do many things, he became someone who was not sure of anything that he did.

Acts 7:22
And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.

Stephen described Moses in this way. From this verse, in today’s context, Moses would be someone who is very academically smart and knows how to execute things. But after 40 years, what did he tell God?

Exodus 3:11
But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

I think that through these 40 years, Moses himself forgot that he was once a prince in the palace. But today, he is a fugitive. How can he speak before Pharoah?

Exodus 4:10
Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

So, Moses became someone very humble. To us, these 40 years seemed to be 40 years of stagnation because from the first year to the fortieth year he was in the wilderness, he was still a shepherd. But in God’s eyes, he was moving forward and making progress all the time.

Song of Solomon 2:7b
Do not stir up nor awaken love
Until it pleases.

Song of Solomon 3:5b
Do not stir up nor awaken love
Until it pleases.

Song of Solomon 8:4b
Do not stir up nor awaken love
Until it pleases.

In this love song, it is mentioned three times, “Do not stir up nor awaken love Until it pleases.” The king was waiting for the Shulamite to open the door so that they could go out and enjoy the spring.

Those who have been in relationships will know that a false relationship will not end well. Our relationship with God is likewise. God will not force us. God will also not restrain us with the Holy Spirit. What He wants to see is a heart that is willing: a heart that is willing to change, a heart that is willing to serve, a heart that is happy to offer.

In God’s time, all things work for good. The opposite of a lifetime is a single moment. There are some times that we wait a lifetime for. There are some things that we lose for a whole life. Jacob lost Joseph for a moment. For him, he had a happy ending. As an example, if Jacob lost Joseph for a lifetime, how would he have seen these things?

Genesis 37:33
And he recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.”

Genesis 37:35
And all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and he said, “For I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.

To Jacob, if he had lost Joseph his whole life, he would have been this sad throughout his whole life. We may ask this question: “If we have a happy ending, we say ‘thank God’. What are we supposed to say if we don’t have this happy ending?” We have seen many tragedies in the world. For example, older people attending the funeral of a younger person is a tragedy, or widows and orphans because once life is lost, it usually does not return.

My wife and I know of this sister. She was a sister who was very fervent in serving God. In the course of her work, she was sent to a place very far away from her hometown. But she would go back to her hometown to keep the Sabbath. Sometimes, she would teach RE lessons, sometimes, she would interpret. On a Sunday about 20 years ago, my wife said goodbye to her after they had a RE lesson. She did not know that this is the last time she would say goodbye. The sister was killed in a car accident on her way home. And the driver who killed her was underage and drinking. It just happened that one of my classmates was about to ride in the same car as she was.

We had no way of comforting their family because many issues came to our minds. We think, “How can an innocent person bear the fault of someone else’s mistakes?” For someone who dies so young, she would have many good days ahead of her. Or we might think, “How can someone who loves God so much die in such a manner?”

Time can be perceived in these three ways. We can talk about the short term, a lifetime, or an eternity. It is a bit difficult to completely understand all these three kinds of time. But according to my age right now, about 40 years, it is possible for me to understand what will happen in 20 or 30 years. But it is more difficult to understand what a lifetime means.

If you say that you have never seen something in your life before, you might reply to me, saying, “You have only lived up to this age. How do you know that you will never see this thing again?” It’s clear that our life experiences are not enough yet. So, how do we understand eternity? Maybe we can only know what the word means and imagine what eternity means because we have never experienced eternity before. Only the Self Existent One knows what eternity is.

So, when we meet these kinds of times, we have to look at these things from the perspective of eternity. We should not only focus on the short term or this lifetime. We should use God’s eternal time to think about these things in that manner because if we use short term thinking to think about things that are supposed to be eternal, it is difficult to understand. Just like how we would try to rationally understand what “a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day” means.

So, if we ask “why?” when it comes to God’s eternal time, it is not very wise. Because even if God gives us the answer, we would not be able to understand it completely. In our lives, we may have experiences where we do not gain a satisfactory answer. But I believe that God’s arrangements are the best. Even if the process is very painful, do you believe this?

Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

In God’s time, all things work together for good. God wants to fulfil His eternal purpose so that those who love God will have good things through this. So, regardless of what we face in life, we need to ensure that we are people who love God. We must keep God’s commandments because Jesus says that those who love Him will keep His commandments.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

In order to see eternal blessings, we may need to suffer in the short term. In Paul’s eyes, this is something worthy. This is because we are exchanging our light affliction for something which is far more exceeding and eternal in terms of glory.

In Mathematics, there is this definition. Regardless of how big a number is, it is finite. But if it is divided by infinity, its answer is zero. In other words, our sufferings in this world will have their limits because man will only live for 70 to 80 years. If we put this in contrast with eternal benefits, all these things, sufferings and tragedies that befall us count as zero. In other words, they are insignificant.

In conclusion, if we are willing to follow God according to His time, we will not be frustrated in our hearts. Sometimes, this frustration may be understood just as someone who is waiting for the date to show up but the date has stood the person up. We should be like the psalmist in Psalm 131.

Psalm 131:2
Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with his mother;
Like a weaned child is my soul within me.

Our hearts are like this weaned child from his mother who is secure and in peace. We look at the child in his mother’s arms. The child will wake up and drink milk according to his parent’s time. And all these times are timely and will not lack.

God has told us, “The mother will not forget the child she is weaning, so will she not have mercy on her children?” Even a mother may forget, but God says, “I will not forget you.” So, we should take comfort in this and entrust our matters according to God’s time.