Perfectly Punctual

Ecclesiastes 3:10-11 -- "I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

It must have been awful: looking around in all directions with nothing but damp, dank, darkness staring back. I bet there were rats. The smell of wet mold and other lichens was most likely pungent and I'm sure Joseph's arms were sore from the tight ropes that held him to the inside of the well. I wonder if he could look up and see the stars and the moon - or if the well had a cover over the top of it - leaving him in complete isolation? And I'm almost positive there was a wet chill that bit at him all the way down to the marrow in his bones.

Leaving home for the first time is not easy on anyone but you can bet your bottom dollar it's worse when the distance growing between you, hearth, and home is not of your own choosing. I cannot begin to imagine all the things running through Joseph's mind. Why had he been betrayed by the people who were supposed to love him? What was next? Would he survive? Did anyone care?

Talk about WAITING on the Lord ..... it was years before Joseph reached the top wrung on his life ladder. Not only was he sidetracked by a kidnapping and sold into slavery - but once IN slavery he had some pretty major setbacks, as well. He would face time in prison for a crime he didn't commit and when the situation was finally straightened out it was still two years before he was released from his cell.

Wow!

The thing is, like you and I - Joseph wasn't given a road map onto which God carefully illustrated the big picture, mapping out each and every foot-fall, providing a detailed list of what to pack and how to best prepare for the weather up ahead. No, Joseph took one step at a time, sometimes not able to see to the end of the street. The roads he traveled were definitely NOT a straight line from point A to point B. And yet, at journey's end we find beauty, hope, forgiveness, and great joy.

BUT - Joseph didn't know all that at the time he was plunked down into that well by his own brothers. He had no way to know what the daylight would hold for him as hung there against the cold damp stones. What he DID know - was that God is always in control. And let's face it, the Joseph we read about at the end of his story is NOT the same Joseph that started out in a handmade, custom designed coat of many colors. There was some growth in the middle of all those years away from home.

God's timing is always on purpose. Borrowing a movie quote: "He is never late, nor does He arrive early. He arrives precisely when He means to". Ecclesiastes wraps this concept up to a fault. True, you and I may run around on that life map a bit - perhaps akin to the Israelites running circles in the desert, not really getting anywhere fast - but God makes everything beautiful in His time. NOT ours. God has ignited a flame deep within us, He has set eternity in our hearts. But we cannot truly fathom eternity. Not the way God can. What we CAN do - is cling to God's promises.

Have you ever seen a baby Bald Eagle? They look like little fuzzy monsters. In that wrinkly, wiry, partially naked pink thing squirming around under his mother's wing is the beautiful, majestic and graceful National Icon that inspires pride and wonder. You wouldn't know it, though, if you were to come across one alone in the woods. In fact, the sight of the thing might kind of creep you out. No, that little hairy bugger needs time. He needs to grow in strength, in stature, and yes, in grace.

Can you imagine the ugly little thing trying to fish on his own? Trying to run down a field mouse or even just flying from tree top to tree top? No. Because he's not ready to do those things. He doesn't ask WHY he can't do all those things just yet. He just grows.

In the mid 1990's fresh out of divorce court and faced with the prospect of raising my son on my own, I couldn't have possibly imagined the wonderful marriage God had in store for me just four years down the road. By the time Steven and I got married, I had known him for years. I knew him BEFORE I got married the first time. A family member once jokingly made the comment that "gosh, you mean you two could have been married way back in 1990?" Well, the truth of the matter is: No. God's timing is ALWAYS perfect. He is ALWAYS perfectly punctual. I wouldn't have made a very good wife to Steven had we married way back in 1990. God knew this. And while I can say I'm pretty sure God hadn't initially planned for me to hit some of the self-induced speed bumps that I clumsily lumbered over in the early 90's , they WERE necessary years.

A few wonderful and deeply cherished people in my life are at the brink of a crossroads. They are asking God which way? Where do I go from here? ....and..... when do I get there?  Well, we don't know the answers right exactly now. And that's o.k. We know that there is "a time to search and a time to give up." There is "a time to embrace and a time to let go." God will make everything beautiful according to His purpose.

He can't do that if we don't let Him.