WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GOD’S TIMING.

What things do you need to know about God’s timing? God, I am ready to walk in my promises now! God, I feel you are delaying! Everyone else is walking on their promises, yet here I am. God, I have been trusting you and I have grown weary waiting on you. Have you been having these kinds of thoughts in your mind? Have you been feeling like you have been praying and waiting on God, but He is not coming through? Or maybe you have been seeing people younger than you get the very things you have been believing God for? Can you discern God’s timing?

Whatever the case may be, waiting on God can sometimes frustrate you, especially when you know you are doing the very thing He asked you to. You can walk in God’s will and still experience delays and this can wreak you. Especially if you are not fully anchored in Him and are yet to understand Him. So today we will look at the concept of God’s timing vs, your timing. And the questions we will ask are

• How to know God’s will and purpose for your life
• How to know when God is telling you it is time to act because the time is right or when it is time to slow down and be patient?

To answer these questions we will look at the life of Moses.

The story of Moses in Exodus 1.

Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, ⁷ but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers, and became so numerous that the land was filled with them. ⁸ Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. ⁹ “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. ¹⁰ Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”

¹¹ So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. ¹² But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites ¹³ and worked them ruthlessly. 

¹⁴ They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly. ¹⁵ The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, ¹⁶ “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool if you see the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” ¹⁷ The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. ¹⁸ Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”

¹⁹ The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” ²⁰ So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. ²¹ And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. ²² Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”

As we start off with his childhood, we realize that Moses’ birth and childhood were extraordinary. He was born when Pharaoh was killing male children. This first of all should have been a sign to show that there was something great inside him. The thing is that the devil knew that there would come a deliverer around that time, so he had the male kids killed to prevent the Israelites from experiencing freedom. The enemy will always contradict God’s word, so whenever you find that once God speaks a word, you are experiencing hell in your life, then this should give you a clear sign that the said word is from God. So Moses’ parents had to improvise to ensure that he stayed alive.

Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, ² and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. ³ But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket^[a] for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. ⁴ His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. ⁵ Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. 

⁶ She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said. ⁷ Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” ⁸ “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. ⁹ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. ¹⁰ When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses,^[b] saying, “I drew him out of the water.” Exodus 2: 1-10

Moses’ parents had some kind of revelation that their son was not ordinary. So Moses went to live in the palace, but God in His divine plan ensured that his mother got to be the one to nurse him. The reason this is so vital is that the early days of a child are the most significant. According to the Australian parenting website, In the first five years of life, experiences and relationships stimulate children’s development, creating millions of connections in their brains. In fact, children’s brains develop connections faster in the first five years than at any other time. This is the time when the child’s foundations for learning, health, and behavior are being developed.

As you can see, God knew that for Moses to walk out his purpose he needed training in the palace. Also, having been exposed to the Hebraic culture through his mum, he had a soft spot for the Israelites because he could identify with them. The bond Moses created with his mother would in no way be broken even after his mother left after the weaning period was over. His mother taught him about his culture, where he came from, and his ancestors.

Although we are not told, his mother must have repeatedly reminded him who he was, and as we know that when we repeatedly think or hear something, it gets stuck in our minds. By the time Moses’ mother’s job was done, she had left a lasting impression on her son so much so that Moses never forgot who he was, although he grew up in the palace. The reason is that soon after Moses was of age; he used his privilege to save one of his own.

¹¹ One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. ¹² Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. ¹³ The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” 14 The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.” 15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.

As we can see from this scripture, Moses knew he had to do something, so he resorted to what he knew to do. He killed an Egyptian. Unfortunately, this backfired on him because this led him to become a fugitive as Pharaoh was hunting him down. He fled to the wilderness where he stayed for 40 years. Can you imagine how these 40 years must have been for Moses, he went from living the best life to now shepherding the flock of his father-in-law. It might have looked like it was all over for Moses and that his purpose was lost, but that was not the case and this is why.

The backstory to help us understand God’s timing,

When God was making a covenant with Abraham, he told him that his descendants would be slaves in a foreign country for 400 years. Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. (Genesis 15:13).

I know you are wondering how this ties into Moses’ story. So let me explain it to you. You see, when Moses’ tried to save his people with his own strength, he did it outside of God’s timing and that was why it failed. Yes, he was doing what God called him to but it was at the wrong time. Moses stayed in the wilderness for 40 years{

(²³ “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. ²⁴ He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. Acts 7:23) and (³⁰ “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. )}, and the Israelites left Egypt exactly after the 430th year. {⁴⁰ Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt^[a] was 430 years. ⁴¹ At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions left Egypt. (Exodus 12:40-41)}

From these scriptures, we can conclude that it was roughly 10 years before the 400-year mark God had promised Abraham that Moses tried to rescue the Israelites. That was why it did not work. God will always keep His promises and He never gives a promise that He can’t keep. Moses acted before his time and, in so doing, delayed God’s plan. How was he going to rescue the Israelites if he was being hunted? Pharaoh had to be eliminated before Moses could serve his purpose. So, do you see the danger of operating outside of God’s timing?

Lessons to learn from Moses about God’s timing

One of the things to learn is that God keeps His promises. This story should prove to you that when God says that He will do something, He will do it because that is who He is. He does nothing contrary to what He promised. Although Moses was doing the right thing, his plan would fail because it was not yet time. This goes to show you that no matter how much you try if it is not God’s time, you will fail.

You can never succeed when you are working against God’s time and sometimes it requires us to be patient. This is especially important if you know you are operating in God’s will. Yet are having a hard time getting things to work. Has God told you to do something, but it is not working? It could mean that the timing is off and when the time is right, He will make it happen.

Sometimes our impatience can get us stuck in a season of delay that God never intended for us God had said that the season of oppression would last 400 years. But because Moses was hasty, there ended up being a delay. And the Israelites had to wait another 30 years for their freedom. Be careful that you do not cause others to stay stuck in a season longer than they should. Because of your impatience.

You can never lose your purpose even in the season of silence. Moses did not lose his purpose when he was in the wilderness. God was preparing him by having him live in the wilderness. This was so that he could lead the Israelites in the wilderness when the time came. This just proves that God wastes no season while you are waiting on Him. Moses must have felt lost in those 40 years. No wonder he lived in the wilderness taking care of the flock. But God in His Sovereignty was actually training him up.

Let me ask you this, do you feel you are living a life that has no purpose? Have you discounted this season thinking that it serves no purpose? Let me encourage you with this fact that God will never waste any season you experience and go through. He does say that everything works out for your good for those called according to His purpose. Could it be that this is just a training ground or a testing ground hence the silence?

God redeems. Moses messed up but still, God used him. God will never disqualify you just because you failed before. Do you feel you messed up and acted too fast causing you to lose your opportunity? Maybe you did something that led to a shut door. Yet you know God had told you that the opportunity was yours. I want to let you know God redeems. In the same way, He redeemed Moses, He will redeem you. And whatever He called you to, you will get to fulfill it. God’s timing involves redemption and restoration.

Conclusion

God has placed your purpose inside you. Just like God told Jeremiah, He ordained him before creating him. He already put the purpose in your life. It might not come at you immediately. But when you allow your childhood to help you track it you will. What did you enjoy doing as a child? What’s the one thing that people saw in you as a child that was most complimented? What did you like to talk about as a child?

Often, we ignore these and term them as childhood fantasies, but could it be that that is your purpose? Or maybe look at the circumstances surrounding your birth and childhood. You might discover it. Or better yet, ask God to help you uncover it. The key here to note is that you find your purpose in your limitation. Whatever limitation, you are experiencing now has your purpose tied to it. This is because the enemy will fight you to ensure that you don’t get to fulfill it. The good news, however, is that God will lead you to the path that will bring out the said purpose despite the opposition you face.

Divine strategies and connection usually accompany God’s timing. As you get close to His timing, you will experience a burning bush moment. This will let you know it is time to do what He called you to do. The burning bush experience might be a divine connection. Maybe someone who can actually get you to your destiny comes your way or your craft and helps you go viral. You will know because everything will feel easy. And your passion for your purpose will come alive in a way that it never had before.

Endless frustration and shut doors will characterize your timing. But when you are in God’s timing, there will be an ease to it. Sometimes just allow what’s helping you decipher your season. Sometimes not that we do not know what God wants us to do, it is often the clarity of what He is planning to do and when that we lack. God’s timing is perfect.

There are moments when you will feel you missed the window God had for you. And you might feel like it will never come back again. But I want you to know this truth, God orders your steps. And as long as you do it with Him, He will redirect you where you need to be. Don’t stay stuck in the should-have. Trust that He will get you back on track because He will. Yield and allow God’s timing to lead you always.