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God’s timing is perfect. It always has been and it always will be. He is eternal. He’s not constrained by such things as time or space. He created it all. Time is as much His creation as we are. He can turn it backward, as we see recorded in the days of the prophet Isaiah and King Hezekiah.(1) And just as easily as He could have turned time forward, He can make it stand still, like He did on the day He gave the Israelites victory over the Amorites.(2)

He does everything according to His own perfect timing. He chose to create heaven and earth, and all of its inhabitants within six days. He put the rotation of the earth, the sun and the moon in motion to create a day in time through each rotation. He determined that each orbit of the earth around the sun would equate to one year with four seasons. He created time, as He did all of His creation, for His purpose and to bring Him glory. And nothing and no one can frustrate His plan, His purpose, or His timing.

God created man, and from him woman, to worship Him. He created them as man and woman in order to procreate and multiply into a multitude of people who would worship Him. And He knew, even before creating that first man and woman, and choosing to give them a free will, that they would sin against Him. Therefore He also knew before He created them – and before He created time – that He would need to make a way for His creation to be redeemed. As a result, everything – including time – was created by Him with His plan in mind.

The apostle Paul writes, “But when the right time came, God sent His Son.…”(3) The “right time” means the timing was as God ordained it to be. There are many who have tried to answer the question as to why Jesus came to earth as a baby at the moment He did. Some have pointed to the unification of the world under Roman rule. Prior to the Romans, the Greeks had set the stage with a common trade language. Others have pointed to the growing existence of even pagan worship that emphasized the need for blood sacrifice. But the problem with all of that is that it is man’s conjectures.

The reality is that only God knows the reason for why that time was perfect for the Son to be born. But we can know that it was the Father’s perfect timing – because that is the only way in which He does things.

Repeatedly throughout the Gospels, we observe the religious leaders making feeble attempts to arrest Jesus or stone Him, and He just disappears before their eyes. And why was that? Because His hour had not yet come!(4)

By the way, the Father has ordered every millisecond leading up to Jesus’s return as well. As Jesus said, “No one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son Himself. Only the Father knows.”(5) But, again, we can know that His timing will be perfect!

Just like God ordered every millisecond leading up to His Son’s birth, He ordered every moment from His birth to the moment in the upper room when Luke records, “When the hour had come, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him.”(6) On that particular night in the upper room two thousand years ago, at the beginning of Passover, the hour had come.

Hold onto this truth about time and timing. We have a tendency to grow impatient as we “wait” on God for answers to our prayers. We like to place deadlines on God – those we deem to be real based upon influences outside of our control, as well as deadlines that we sometimes contrive to “test” God. Remember He controls the timing – and He knows His purpose for His “seeming” delay. He will accomplish His purpose in His time.

Here is what God Himself has said, as recorded by the prophet Isaiah:

“I am God, and there is none like Me. Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish.”(7) 

And He will do so according to His perfect timing!

Jesus was reclining at the table that night. This was the moment of peace and calm before the storm. It is very similar to the night Jesus was sleeping in the boat in the midst of the storm. Jesus knew all that was about to unfold, and yet there He reclined. You and i would have been anxious, at the very least, if not outright panicked. But as the Son of God, He knew that nothing was about to occur that was not in accordance with the Father’s plan and timing. And as the Son of Man, He knew that the next twenty-four hours were going to require tremendous physical strength and endurance. So He availed Himself to the rest that the Father now provided.

Grasp this truth! In the midst of our life journeys – as we take up the cross and follow Him – there will be moments of rest in the midst of, or in preparation for, great activity. Let’s be careful not to rest when we are supposed to be active, and let’s not be active when we are supposed to be resting. Let’s be faithful to avail ourselves to the time of rest that the Father has provided. Unlike Jesus, we don’t know what is ahead – but the Father does – and He will provide a time to renew our strength in preparation for us to endure.

That brings me to what i believe is the most important truth of that particular moment in the upper room. His apostles were there surrounding Him. He was in their midst. They were enjoying the intimacy of His presence. At the most critical twenty-four-hour period in human history – and most likely heavenly history – Jesus was right there with His own.

He was preparing to pour into them, nurture them and encourage them. He knew what they needed to hear from Him. He knew that the very foundation of their belief in Him was about to be shaken. He knew the tragedy and despair they would experience. But He also knew the victory they would witness and experience on the other side of their pain. So He was going to spend every moment He possibly could preparing them to walk through the hours and days ahead.

We need to take confidence in that same reality. No matter what lies ahead, the Master is right there with us. And He will not leave us nor forsake us – not ever! He knows the victory on the other side of the pain.

i don’t know what that hour may be for you … or for me. It will more than likely look different for each one of us. But i do know that as we follow Him, a difficult hour – or quite probably, a number of difficult hours – will come when we encounter something in our path that He has permitted for His purpose and His glory. In that hour … trust Him in the timing … rest in the intimacy of His presence … and know that He is walking with you every step … and every moment … of the way!

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Portions of this post have been taken from my book Taking Up The Cross, chapter 29.

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(1)  2 Kings 20:9-11

(2)  Joshua 10:12-13

(3)  Galatians 4:4 (NLT)

(4)  John 7:30

(5)  Matthew 24:36 (NLT)

(6)  Luke 22:14 (NASB)

(7)  Isaiah 46:9-10 (NLT)

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