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“You cannot judge God by your calendar.”

A thought by Timothy Keller (2016-10-25) from his book, Hidden Christmas: The Surprising Truth Behind the Birth of Christ (p. 35). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

I know, I know.  But God must answer my prayer, fulfill my dream, take care of this situation, give me this job right now.  I’ve claimed it, I’ve been a good boy/girl.  It must happen right now.  He promised. 

Tim says, “God may appear to be slow, but he never forgets his promises. He may seem to be working very slowly or even to be forgetting his promises, but when his promises come true (and they will come true), they always burst the banks of what you imagined.”

Do you know that the coming of Jesus was promised way back in Genesis, the first book in the Old Testament?  Have you ever read the whole Old Testament?  A lot happened because Jesus came.  Read the first chapter in Matthew the first book of the New Testament.  It shows how long it was between the promise and the action. 

Tim goes on, “God’s grace virtually never operates on our time frame, on a schedule we consider reasonable. He does not follow our agendas or schedules. When Jesus spoke to the despairing father Jairus, whose daughter had just died, he said, ‘Believe’ (Mark 5: 36). He was saying, ‘If you want to impose your time frame on me, you will never feel loved by me, and it will be your fault, because I do love you. I will fulfill my promises.’” 

Tim then says, “God seems to forget his promises, but he comes through in ways we can’t imagine before it happens. Think of the coming of the promised Messiah. This divine King was born not in a castle but in a feed trough, a manger. He confounded all expectations, but it was only by coming in weakness and dying on the cross that he could save us. God kept his promise.”

By the way, Jesus brought Jairus’ daughter back to life.


 So are you willing to put your trust in his timing?
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