Apples of Gold

Our home town has a ridiculous amount of traffic lights up and down the main THRUWAY. While I appreciate a well placed traffic light when I am trying to cross a particularly busy intersection, they can be a thorn in the flesh for those who are merely trying to get across town. I’m not sure what the algorithm for programming our lights is, but it was not, in my opinion, very well thought out. A good mathematician could sync the lights so that if you hit one, or maybe two, the rest should pretty much be green, allowing the traffic to flow freely. That is not how ours function. On a very rare, and perhaps divinely favored, trip we have crossed town hitting only green lights. The normal situation is much different. When the red lights are prevalent, it can add at least 10 minutes to your trip. Some lights are as close together as 400 or 500 feet, barely allowing your car to make any forward progress before hitting another red. While that is not a terrible inconvenience, it can be a tad frustrating, especially when you are transporting a precious baby who has had more than enough of the car! 

Timing is an art. Being in the right place at just the right moment is a tricky endeavor.  My dad loves to watch trains. He has a special radio that allows him to hear the chatter of the crews. He and my mom venture out, chasing down train after train, enjoying the rumble of the engine and the shrill whistle as they pass by. An extra stop or just too many red lights can throw the timing off enough that all they catch is the tail end of the last car chugging off into the distance. 

As the initiator of time, God has timing down to an exact science. Expressing the attributes of omniscience and omnipotence allows God’s timing to be perfect in every circumstance. 

Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish. Isaiah 46:10

I find attempting to align my life with the timing of God, rather than my own whims and desires can prove rather difficult. Big decisions come with a mountain of hesitation as I listen for that still small voice that can be buried under the chaotic whirr of busyness and seemingly endless options. 

While waiting for the mundane, day-to-day, directions can be wearisome, waiting for deliverance during times of danger and distress is in a league of it’s own. 

During perilous times, I find comfort and assurance in the Book of Esther. It appears the villain will win, until it doesn’t. Haman’s character drips with arrogance as he confidently presumes his plot to destroy the Jews will prevail. But, at just the right moment, God reveals his hand that has been working behind the scenes, engineering events to collide in a cataclysmic explosion that seems to come out of nowhere!

Haman is revealed as the true villain, and Esther and Mordecai get the relief and recognition they deserve. The story paints a masterpiece only God is capable of orchestrating. God’s timing is carried out with a divine perfection that is awe inspiring! 

While I am inspired by the timing, I am empowered by the secrecy. God was working under deep cover, employing the precision of a special forces operation. The pivot point is so sudden and volte-face that the reader is tempted to cheer in delight. 

We can be sure that this was not a one time occurrence. God is working similarly in our own lives. Things might look dark, the enemy might appear to have the upper hand. God might seem to be strangely quiet, or unusually absent but rest assured he has things under control. 

Tracing God’s hand after our rescue is much less challenging than relaxing in the midst of our struggle. While attempting to fulfill God’s plan for his life, David found himself in trouble time after time. He wrote words of encouragement that we can cling to during our own battle:

I am not afraid of ten thousand enemies who surround me on every side. Psalm 3:6 

Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident. Psalm 27:3

David’s peace came from his trust in God. When he was in danger, he retreated to a place of safety:

For you are my hiding place; you protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of victory. Psalm 32:7

David literally needed to be hidden from his enemy’s sight. At times we experience this need as well. 

The trial will end. The storm will pass. Direction will come. While we cannot grasp the entire plan of God, we can trust the character of our Heavenly Father. 

God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from the beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 2:11