God’s Timing

romans 8,35-39

And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man [Lazarus] from dying?” John 11:37

RECOMMENDED READING:  ROMANS 8:20-39 “ 20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

COMMENTS:  God’s Plan but also His Timing is perfect but doesn’t always seem so at the time or in the midst of difficulty or crisis.   It is when we look back, we discover His Perfect Timing and Perfect Work.  History gives us opportunity to learn from experiences of those before us, but also learn to trust God to be faithful as He has always been.  History also gives us warning to be faithful to Him and follow His guiding hand and commands.   Blessing for faithfulness is consistent but persecution to the faithful from the unfaithful is also consistent in history.   Torment from Job’s friends and neighbors during a time of tragedy and suffering without Job’s knowledge nor understanding of why or how long such suffering would continue.   Examples from scripture like Job’s and Daniel’s and Joseph’s and Abraham’s and Esther’s and Noah’s and …. They all serve as examples to encourage and warn us.  Even Abraham’s impatience in not waiting long enough for God’s timing to give him a son and heir with Sarah his wife, but instead used Hagar, not only created a problem for them but a problem for every generation since.  God’s intent was for Ishmael’s dependents to be heirs of God’s promise to Abraham but not separate from Abraham’s wife Sarah but through Sarah too.  They settled for something less than God’s best by not waiting long enough for God to work as He had promised but in His time.

He came and brought Israel out of slavery in Egypt but His response started with a baby (Moses) who would 80 years later lead them out of slavery via 10 miracles, pillars of fire and parting the Red Sea.  That time was necessary to prepare Moses, Joshua, and a multitude of others. 

Job trusted God enough to accept God’s delays and sought His fellowship as He waited and endured.   Waiting without understanding but waiting while trusting.  You and I need to learn and follow His example too.  The disciples waiting after Jesus’s ascension for the Holy Spirit.  By waiting, then were empowered and knew exactly what to do.  They wouldn’t have known what to do nor been effective in doing so if they hadn’t waited. 

I believe God work is slow at times for many reasons.  Sometimes is because of preparation work needed in our lives.   We need time to discover or re-discover the lesson of surrender and obedience.  Sometimes He need to orchestrate preparation of or implementation of other plans in other’s lives so they are in harmony with His plans for us. When we act ahead of God’s plan, we create problems that may take a long time to fix and end up delaying fulfillment of His plan for us.

But when we wait on Him and use that time to draw closer to Him and are open to the Holy Spirit’s council and helping Hand and fellowship, we will discover and be blessed in ways far beyond our expectations.   I encourage you to reflect and let Him reveals both those times when you acted ahead of God’s timing as well as times when you waiting on Him.  I also invite you to reflect on examples from scripture but also examples from family and friends too.  I too am reflecting during this time of devotion while it is still dark outside and quiet inside.  This time to both seek His forgiveness for responding impatiently and offering praise and gratitude for His faithfulness.  Even Christ waited 4 days before raising Lazarus (John 11:1-44) while Mary and Martha and others grieved.  

How many times has God intervened in your life but wondered why His response wasn’t sooner.  Then time revealed some reasons related to preparations necessary first.  Likewise, how many times have you and I proceeded ahead of God and later wished we’d waited. We have the Holy Spirit to council us and encourage and guide us.  But we still struggle with not being able to see and hear the Holy Spirit.  Delays are only our perspective. God is not unprepared or surprised.  God’s timing and reasons are always perfect.  (Romans 8:28-29).  He is prepared and already aware of how and when satan will try his mischief, so is  working to prepare us for all obstacles and distractions and opportunities for great good.      Delays are only from our perspective. God’s timing and reasons are always perfect (Romans 8:28-29).       “God has His hours and His delays.” J. A. Bengel 

If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 146 blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present.

You may also access my facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily.  My facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951

My hope and prayer is, they will become a source of encouragement and tools in ministry for you.

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Don McDaniel - Who am I? Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever. Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me. I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private. However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool. Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry. He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 . I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine. I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward. Don & Arlene McDaniel In His Service, Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951 If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ ) You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials.

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