“When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners” (Romans 5:6).
A truth about God I have learned from the Word of God and personal experience is: “God is an ‘on-time’ God, not a ‘my-time’ God.”
When I was 20 years old, I took out a $30,000 construction loan to build a house to sell. I had a plan. I would build the house, sell it, and have enough money to pay for the rest of my education at North Central Bible College (now North Central University). It was the perfect plan, except God had other plans. As I was completing the construction of the house, interest rates increased dramatically and as a result, the housing market plummeted. I was desperate. I remember laying on the particle board in the living room of that house, crying out to the Lord and asking Him to intervene.
God did intervene to a point as He provided enough rental income to pay for interest on the loan, but there were no offers to purchase the home while I was at North Central for the next 2 ½ years. The plan was not according to my timeline. However, I learned that God is an “on-time” God, not a “my-time” God. Shortly after graduating from North Central, Jeanne and I were married. A few weeks later, we traveled to Canton, Ohio, to candidate for a Youth Pastor position at Canton Bethel Temple. We were offered the position and accepted it. I remember driving back to Wisconsin thinking, “What am I going to do with the house?” The day we arrived back to our home in Wisconsin, I received a call from my father informing me that my house at sold. God is an “on-time” God, not a “my-time” God.
The verse in Romans 5:6 reminds us of that truth. We were utterly helpless to deal with the sin that separated us from God. But “Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.” The Jews had been waiting a long time for the Messiah to come. When He did come, many did not recognize or receive Him. Galatian 4:4 reminds us that Jesus came into the world at the right time, “But when the right time came, God sent his Son…” Just as Jesus was born at the right time and died at the right time, He will come again AT THE RIGHT TIME!
Just as Jesus’ second coming will be at the right time so His “coming” will be at the right time to minister to you at your point of need. It may be that you are in need of healing, a job, a financial miracle, an answer to a desperate prayer. I want you to know that God knows and sees. He is not ignoring you. He is working in you and around you. At the right time, He will come! Today, be strengthened in your faith as you remember truth: God is an “on-time” God, not a “my-time” God!