In His Time
Scripture Reading — Habakkuk 1:1-2:3
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways …”
Isaiah 55:9
The other day I was at the doctor’s office. A young couple came out, and I heard them crying. The question Why? rang out several times. Obviously they had received some bad news.
Somebody has said jokingly that the most used English word is no, and maybe the next one is why. When we were young, we asked our parents why we had to tidy up our rooms. And when we got older, we questioned our boss why we had to do so much work.
The main idea behind such questions is that something is not fair. As Christians, we sometimes have the notion that everything must go our way because we believe in God. So when something goes wrong, we ask, “Why didn’t God stop that from happening?”
The prophet Habakkuk often asked, “Why?” And the answer was not very direct: “For the revelation awaits an appointed time … Though it linger … it will certainly come.” God’s perspective is bigger than ours. Like Habakkuk, we just have to be patient and trust that God will act in his time (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
In your time, in your time,
you make all things beautiful in your time.
Lord, my life to you I bring;
may each song I have to sing
be to you a lovely thing, in your time.
Father, when our lives seem out of order, help us to trust that you care for us and that you will act in your time. Comfort us with your presence and your love, we pray. Amen.
About the author — Jimmy Tai-On Lin
Rev. Jimmy Lin is the Chinese ministry leader of The Back to God Hour. With his staff in Palos Heights and Hong Kong, Rev. Lin has ministered to over 1.3 billion Chinese-speaking people around the world for 16 years through radio, literature, CD/DVD, Internet, and text message. His wife, Doris, is one of the translators of Today into the Chinese language, which now has a circulation of more than 45,000 copies.
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