"God's Time vs. Our Time "

Hi there, this is Lon Solomon and I'd like to welcome you to our program today. You know it's a tremendous honor that God has given us to be on stations all around the nation bringing the truth of God's word as it is uncompromising and straightforward. And I'm so glad you've tuned in to listen and be part of that.

Thanks again for your support and your generosity that keeps us on the radio. And now let's get to the Word of God. Let's look at Luke chapter two and see the Lord Jesus Christ submit to God's time instead of his own.

Let's begin at verse 41. Every year his that is Jesus's parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. And when he was 12 years old, they went up to the feast according to the custom. Now, the Old Testament says that Jewish people were to go to the temple in Jerusalem three times a year for three very important festivals and one of them was Passover, which commemorated the deliverance of the Jewish people while they were slaves in Egypt. And Jesus's parents, the Bible tells us, did this every year in obedience to God.

The trip was about 100 miles and people normally traveled in caravans for safety. And knowing that helps us understand what happened next. Verse 43. And after the feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it, thinking that he was in their company. They traveled on for a day and then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. And when they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him.

And they looked for him, verse 46 says, for three days till they found him. You say, well, now, Lon, how in the world could parents misplace their kid for a whole day on a caravan like that? The reason is that in those days, the way caravans worked is that the women and the children went in the front of the caravan and the men brought up the rear of the caravan.

And very often the two groups, that is the women in the front and the men in the back, would not see each other for the whole day until the caravan camped at night. And suddenly they all got together. Now, Jesus was 12 years old in the Jewish culture. You became a man at 13. You were bar mitzvahed at 13. You could get married at 13. You could start having a family after 13.

You became an official man in the community at 13. And so Jesus was right on the cusp of being a man versus being a child. And therefore, I'm sure what happened is that when he wasn't with Mary, Mary said, well, he's probably feeling a little bit like a man right now.

And so he's probably hanging back with his dad. And when his dad didn't see him, he probably thought, well, Jesus is probably up in the front part of the caravan with his mother. And so when the two of them got together at the end of the day and they compared notes, Mary said, you mean he's not with you? And Joseph said, well, no, I thought he was with you. And Mary said, well, how could you think he was with me? And Joseph said, well, it's very easy because he wasn't with me. And some loving friend stepped in and said, he's not here. Why don't you two go look for him? And so they did.

I know you can't relate to that argument, but. And they went back to Jerusalem looking for him. And for three days, they couldn't find him.

He was lost and they had no idea where he was in the very crowded and busy city of Jerusalem. Panic set in. I'm sure you ever experienced that if you ever lost your child. And do you know this sense of abject terror that Mary and Joseph must have been feeling after three days of not being able to find their son? I know what it's like. I've lost mine. Yeah, well, actually, today it is kind of funny, but it wasn't that we were at the pottery factory in Williamsburg.

This is true. And our second son, Justin, had just been born and he was about three or four months old. And we were so stir crazy that we went away on a vacation and took him and took our oldest son, Jamie, who was then about four years old. And we went down to Williamsburg and we went to the pottery factory and it was just mob, you know, just people everywhere. And we were sitting in front of one of these huge buildings. And Brenda had gone into shop and she was inside for what seemed like a week. And we were sitting out on one of these little park benches outside the building and it was myself and it was Jamie and it was little baby Justin.

And I finally got so frustrated, I couldn't take it anymore. And I said to Jamie, Jamie, you stay right here and watch Justin. I'm going in and look for your mom. Well, I was young and I was.

And Jamie was a very responsible kid at four. And so I went in to start looking for Brenda all around this huge building. And I looked and looked and looked and looked and finally I found her and I said, there you are. And she looked around and the first question out of her mouth was, guess what?

Where are the kids? I said, oh, well, they're out in the front on the park bench. And she said, who's watching them?

And I said, well, Jamie's watching Justin. And she said, what? And she started running for the front door. I'm trying to run behind her, explaining myself and going, but really, they're going to be OK. He's four years old.

He's very responsible. And we came around the corner. We could hear Justin screaming and we went out in front. And here is this strange lady that we've never seen before.

Rocking him back and forth in the stroller and no sign of Jamie. And I said to the lady, who are you? And she said, is this your baby?

And we said, yes, it is. And she said, well, I was walking into the building and she said, this baby was just laying here in a stroller, screaming his head off. And I looked around.

There wasn't anybody anywhere around that looked like they belong to this baby. So I thought I would sit down and rock him until the parents finally showed up. And I said, oh, did you see a little four year old kid anywhere?

And she said, no. I said, well, he was dressed like this. He's real cute. He got a big round face. And you see him anywhere? No, he wasn't here when you were here.

No. Man, I can't tell you what went through my gut right about that point. I mean, there are millions of people in this pottery factory. And I had all these visions of Jamie getting hit by a car, run over by that dumb train.

It runs right through the middle of the pottery factory or or, you know, somebody kidnapping him. I mean, and I was frantic and I hadn't exactly batted a thousand with Brenda so far this day. And I knew if I lost Jamie forever, she's going to be pretty upset. So I scoured out everywhere yelling and screaming and running and looking in absolute panic and terror for this kid.

Can you relate to that? You ever lost your kid in the department store? It's like, Susie, Susie, Susie, Susie, has anybody seen Susie? And slowly the panic begins to build up inside of you as you realize, where is Susie?

Well, that's what Mary and Joseph were going through. Three days they looked for this boy. And look where they found him. Verse 46.

After three days, they found him. In the temple court, sitting among the teachers, the rabbis listening to them and asking them questions. And everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and at his answers. During the Passover festival, rabbis would gather from all over the Jewish world and come to the temple and sit there and debate great theological questions in the temple. And Jesus had joined up with this group, never occurred to them to look for him there, and was astounding them with his spiritual insight and with his perception.

Verse 48. And when his parents saw him, they were astonished and they ran over to him and his mother said to him, Son, why have you treated us like this? How could you do this to me and your father? Your father and I have been anxiously.

The Greek word means in a panic stricken manner. We have been in a panic stricken way looking for you everywhere. How could you do this to us? That's exactly what you or I would do when we finally found our kid.

Right. What do you say to him when you find him? How could you do this to Mommy? How could you do this to me?

Well, I don't know what they did. That's what they said to Jesus. Now look at his response. Jesus said, verse 49, Why were you searching for me? Didn't you know I had to be in my father's house? It's very interesting if you look back at the verse before that Mary said, Your father and I have been looking for you. And Jesus said, No, I'm in my father's house. And I don't know if they picked it up, but I'm sure Jesus said it on purpose as a way of communicating to them. Remember, Mom, Joseph is not really my father.

Don't ever forget that. I'm in my father's house, the temple of Almighty God. He is my father, and he's given me a special mission to carry out. And I was merely here in his house getting ready to carry it out.

That's all. So why are you so upset? But they did not understand what he was saying to them. What do you mean this is your father's house?

What are you talking about? They didn't get it. And as a result, they obviously asked Jesus to return home to Nazareth with them.

You say, How do you know that? Well, look, verse 51 says, Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. Now, it's possible that that means he was obedient to them as a boy for the rest of his life. But I think what it means is that they had asked him, Jesus, we don't know what you're talking about. We have no idea what you mean.

You have to be in your father's house going about your father's business. We really don't have a clue as to what it is, this special mission that you're going on. But we want you to come home.

You're not ready for this, we don't think. And the Bible says Jesus went back to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart, and Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. You know, the next time we hear about Jesus in the Bible is 18 years later when he comes back to carry out his spiritual mission that at 12 years old, he sensed God had for him, but he didn't get clearance to carry out for another 18 years at the age of 30 or so.

Now, this is our passage for this morning, but it leaves us asking the question, yeah, so what? You know, what's interesting is that this is the only event from the childhood of Jesus that the Bible records. So in 30 years of living, this is the only event from his childhood that we find in the Bible.

So you say, well, why would God choose to record this one? And the answer is, I believe that it's a great lesson. There's a great lesson here for us as Christians in what Jesus Christ did in response to his parents. You see, at the age of 12, remember, I told you he was about to become a man. He was about to become recognized as a full fledged man in Hebrew society. And if God had turned him loose, I believe that Jesus was ready to start carrying out his mission of being the Messiah right here and right then. He was ready to go. I mean, he'd been in the temple. He'd been debating theology with the rabbis and he'd held his own. They were amazed at his wisdom and his knowledge. He had a taste for what was up ahead and he was ready. But God's timing was not yet right.

Not right by 18 years. And God used Jesus's parents and their wish of come on, son, come on home to Nazareth. He used his parents to indicate to Jesus that the time is not yet right.

Yeah, you might have the right idea, but the time's not right. And Jesus had a choice to make, didn't he? He had a choice. He could either follow his own sense of timing or he could hear God's gentle voice saying to him, wait, not yet. It's too soon.

The time's not right. Go back to Nazareth and submit to my time. So he had that choice to make. And Jesus chose the latter. He chose God's time versus his own time. And we know he made the right choice, don't we? Because the Bible says that Jesus was tempted in every way we are, yet without sin. Jesus never made a single wrong decision.

He never made a single disobedient choice in his entire life. So we know that was the right choice to go back to Nazareth and for 18 years wait on God's timing to do what he knew God had called him to do. But the timing hadn't been right. You know, there's many great examples in the Bible and in real life of this principle of God's time versus our time.

Let me show you one other one. I want you to turn back into the book of Acts, chapter 7. For those of you using our copy of the Bible, it's page 775, Acts, chapter 7.

And there's another man who's a great example of this. His name is Moses. And I want you to see what the great preacher Stephen said about Moses in Acts, chapter 7, verse 23.

Acts 7, verse 23. When Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites. He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian. So he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian.

Now, look at this. Verse 25. Moses thought that his own people would realize that God wanted to use him to rescue them, but they didn't realize it. Do you see Moses had the right idea? Did he understand in his heart what God was going to eventually call him to do?

Yeah, he knew it. But the Bible says the other people weren't ready yet. Verse 26. The next day, Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting and he tried to reconcile them by saying, Man, your brothers, why do you want to hurt each other like this? But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

Are you going to kill me the way you killed the Egyptian yesterday? And when Moses heard this, he realized that he was in deep weeds and he fled the Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and he had two sons. And after 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. And when he saw this, he was amazed. And as he went over to look, he heard the Lord's voice saying, I am the God of your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Then the Lord said to him, verse 33, Take off your sandals.

The ground you're standing on is holy ground. I have seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and come down to set them free.

Now come. I will send you back to Egypt. Verse 35. This is the same Moses whom they had rejected with the words, Who made you ruler and judge over us? The same one was sent to be their ruler and their deliverer by God himself.

You understand what this is saying? It's saying, as I like to put it, that Moses had the right job, but the wrong time. He had the right job, but the wrong time. He was off by 40 years, but he had the job right.

He knew what God was calling him to do. But he missed the time. And let's agree that with very few exceptions, we all make the same mistake that Moses made when it comes to the timing of God, don't we? We're not content to wait on God's timing. We want it done like now. We want it done like yesterday.

We want it done as AP. And usually the problem is God says, wait, and we say now God says later. And we say ASAP. God says the timing is not right. And we say, well, I know what has to happen.

So I'll make it happen in my own timing. That's what Moses tried. Folks, listen carefully. More blessings are lost in the Christian life because we are unwilling to wait on God's timing than for any other single reason. In the Bible, God says this Isaiah 55. My thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are my ways, your ways, say if the Lord for as high as the heavens are above the earth. So much higher are my thoughts than your thoughts and my ways than your ways.

And we could add my thoughts are not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways. And my timing is usually not your timing as high as the heaven is above the earth. So is my timing above your timing. That's just not true for Frank Reich.

That's true for you and me. So where is God asking you to be a Frank Reich in your life? Where is God asking you to walk by faith, even though you don't understand? Where is God asking you to submit to his timing instead of your own? Where is God asking you to humble your ego and your pride and your drive to exalt yourself and move yourself and advance yourself and get what you want? And where is God asking you to submit to his plan and his timing and just let him be God? Listen, God has so many exciting things ahead if you'll just let him do it his way. He has so many blessings he wants to give you if you just let him do it his way according to his time. But when we ram it and jam it and cram it in our time, we miss so many blessings God has prepared for us. And the Lord Jesus Christ was smart enough to say, you know, even though I think I might be able to handle these rabbis right now and this mission right now, if God's asking me to wait, then I'm going to wait.

It was 18 years, but he waited. Have you been praying for somebody's healing and it's not coming in your timing? Have you been praying for the salvation of somebody you love very much and it's just not happening in your timing? Have you been praying for your Boaz and you don't see him yet or your Ruth and you don't see her yet? And you're saying to God, well, why is she here now? I'm ready now. I'm overdue, God.

I'm so ripe. I'm about to bust God's time. You've been praying about your job and it's not going in the timing you want it to go in or about your marriage. And there's some problems that aren't getting solved the way you want them solved in your timing. You've been praying for guidance and it's not coming as fast as you want it. Maybe you've been praying to have a child and you haven't been able to have one in your timing or a financial breakthrough. And it hasn't come when you wanted it.

I don't know. But I can't help but think that every single one of us here as Christians has at least one thing in our life where our timing hasn't matched God's timing. And we've gotten angry. We've gotten frustrated, maybe even bitter. But if you're angry and you're frustrated and you're bitter at God, I'll tell you why. I'll tell you the reason. It's because you've been insisting on your time instead of being willing to wait for his time. And you can solve the bitterness and the frustration.

Very simple. You can solve it by going to God and saying, God, I'm willing to give up my time and I'm willing to submit to and embrace your time. There's a great verse in the scripture. It says this Psalm 46, verse 10. Be still.

Some of you know it. Be still and let God be God. It says be still and know that I am God. But what it means is be still and let me be God, not you.

I'm God and the people who enjoy the greatest blessings from God, the people who know the greatest joy in their Christian experience are the people who are willing to say, yes, God. I think I got the plan. I think I got the idea. I think I know where we're going, but that's only half of it.

The other half is timing. And, Lord, I'm going to opt for your time, not mine. May God help you do that. May God help you trade in your frustration and your anger and your bitterness. For a humble dependence on God's time and God's wisdom.

And you'll be glad you did. If you're here this morning and what I've been saying has really spoken to you. And you'd like to say, God, I've been frustrated and I've been upset and I've been angry.

Because I've wanted my timing. But, Lord, this morning, I'm willing to trade that in for your time and submit to you. If you're willing to do that, then I'd like you just to raise your hand this morning so we can pray together. Thank you. God bless you. Thanks. Lots of hands.

Anybody else? Come on now. Thanks. Heavenly Father, I thank you so much that you are God. That we don't have to be afraid of turning loose control because you're in control.

And, Lord Jesus, it's really only a mirage to think that we're in control. I pray that you would work in the heart of every person here, particularly those who raise their hands. Forgive us for getting angry and frustrated with you, being bitter.

Just because we're insisting on doing it our way, our time. Lord Jesus, help us to be like you and submit to the timing of God. Replace that bitterness and that frustration in our hearts this morning with your joy. And your peace that comes from knowing that in your time, you'll make all things beautiful in your time.

Thank you. We can depend on you to be God. Direct our lives, Lord, as we submit to you. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. We hope you will join us next time when Lon seeks to answer one of life's most important questions. So what?