Thursday 3/15/12 – Happy Birthday to Me!
Acts 1:7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.”
Interpretation:
If I asked you when your birthday is, most people in America (and other cultures who celebrate birthdays) wouldn’t need to hesitate to answer. It rolls right off their tongue. It’s such a monumental day in a person’s life and rightfully so. But here’s the cool thing: until the actual day you were born, that day was probably no different than any other day in the calendar year. In fact, until you were actually born, no one even knew if that would be your day. Yes, doctors probably gave your mother a due date, but many babies are born before or after that date. So while we might know the approximate time, there’s never a guarantee on when that special time for a baby will come. The only one who knew your special day beyond a shadow of a doubt even before it came was God Himself who puts all times and seasons in His own authority. While He does this with world events, realize that He does this with your life as well – starting from the day you were conceived.
If I asked you when your birthday is, most people in America (and other cultures who celebrate birthdays) wouldn’t need to hesitate to answer. It rolls right off their tongue. It’s such a monumental day in a person’s life and rightfully so. But here’s the cool thing: until the actual day you were born, that day was probably no different than any other day in the calendar year. In fact, until you were actually born, no one even knew if that would be your day. Yes, doctors probably gave your mother a due date, but many babies are born before or after that date. So while we might know the approximate time, there’s never a guarantee on when that special time for a baby will come. The only one who knew your special day beyond a shadow of a doubt even before it came was God Himself who puts all times and seasons in His own authority. While He does this with world events, realize that He does this with your life as well – starting from the day you were conceived.
He orchestrates our lives and has everything planned out according to His timing. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” God knows the works that He has prepared for us even before the foundation of the world. If God prepared the exact day you were to come into existence and the exact day about nine months later when you would be born, don’t you think that He also has exact times that He planned for us to do these good works we were created for?
The problem for so many of us comes with patience. Sometimes, we can just taste and see that the Lord is good and we know that He has something great for us, but He’s having us wait for some reason. It can be the hardest thing at times. “But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:4). Imagine how excited your parents were when they found out they were going to have a child. Yet, they had to wait. And while they waited, your little body was being perfected inside your mother’s. Likewise, as we wait for God’s timing, He is sure to continue to make us perfected and sanctified in Him. God’s timing is coming and the due date is just around the corner; we don’t know when, but knowing our God, we know that something great is soon to be born.
Application:
In a few weeks I’ll be going to El Salvador and I’ve been excited about that for months. I know that I’ll eventually get there, but right now is not God’s timing for me to be there. He still wants me in the States as He is continuing to work in my heart. It’s hard for me to wait for His timing, but one of the things He’s teaching me during this time is to be content with Him and Him alone. Therefore, I will continue praying today that He will make me so content with Himself that I won’t let anything else take His place in my life.
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