In His Time

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:” (I Peter 5:6)

I love action. Of course, getting older has slowed some of that down, but I still love to achieve, to overcome, to be about doing something. It kills me to sit around, yet I know that is an important part of the whole of life. In the Army we had a saying: “Hurry up and wait.” We would run in formation between places, then stand in line for an hour to get in, whereas if we had simply marched there the wait wouldn’t have been so long. My dad raised me in that way – if you’re on time, you’re late. If the sun is up, you’d better be, too. Do something, son! So you understand why its difficult for me to sit and watch some sappy love movie on Hallmark or some other “lame”, slow-moving plot line movie. It has to have movement, it has to have (some measure) of excitement or I’m bored.

Unfortunately that mindset often gets carried over to our walk with God. When Jesus was explaining what was going to happen in the days, years, and centuries ahead, they asked Him, “What will be the signs of these coming to pass? When is it going to happen?” Peter was known as a man of action. He was the rambunctious one – the one who pulled Jesus off to the side and rebuked Him when He was telling of His coming death, the one who cut off the ear of the Roman soldier on the Mount of Olives. But it was also Peter who got out of the boat at the call of Jesus and walked on the stormy seas toward His Lord.

I can identify with Peter and with Elijah. Both were men of extreme action. Both were men who would fight to the death to defend God. Both were men of vision, of motion. I like that. Unfortunately, both were also men of extreme emotions as well. Both fronted well, but when the pressure was on, both folded pretty easily. They were like temporary folding partitions made of steel. I see that in myself and others with whom I fellowship. We can present a strong front when unfolded to our fullest, yet the least pressure from the right direction and we disappear.

In our passage today (which comes from Peter, by the way), we read his words of counsel to the church. Young men (and women) coming into the church should make themselves submissive to the leadership of the body. They come in locked and loaded, ready to take on the world, with visions of changing everything. Sadly we in the church leadership have yielded to their demands because at least they wanted to do something. They are young, they are strong, and they are eager – to do, to achieve, to set things on fire. The elders and deacons of the church have held the reins of leadership, have defended the old ways, and maintained the doctrine of the church for decades and they are not willing to let these young’uns come in and change stuff. There is merit in that stance, it is imperative that we hold to the old cornerstones of the faith, that we maintain boundaries within the body, but there is a place for the fresh eyes of youth, for the fiery passion of the next generation. To that Peter speaks.

One of the churches at which I ministered almost forty years ago (has it been THAT long ago?) had a mentoring program, where a deacon was partnered with a young man in the church. This was carefully achieved through much prayer and observation to make sure the match was a good fit. The deacon, being the elder, would take the young man under his wing and begin mentoring him on the operation of the church – everything from monitoring the doctrines being preached across the pulpit to the business side of practically running the day-to-day expenses and operations of the church. It was understood from the beginning that not every young man would eventually become a deacon, but he may become a pillar of the church – a support, a helper, a wood or water carrier (if you will) to those who were leaders. Each partner had his place and each was very vital to the ongoing life of the congregation. One thing we stressed (my Senior Pastor Steve Tanner and myself as his Associate Pastor) was simply this: The method of ministry may change but the message of the gospel cannot. For example, music is always a hard discussion pertaining to the services. Some people bristle up when they see an electric guitar on the altar or a set of drums. Others prefer to sing the old hymns out of the songbook while others prefer more contemporary worship songs and choruses. Often church splits resulted over the years from projecting the words to the songs on a screen as opposed to holding a hymnal in your hand. Ministry is a difficult calling.

In this passage, Peter advises the young to make themselves servants, to make themselves available, to become humble before their elders, pastors, and most of all God. This talk of humility has started many a fight within the body of Christ, believe me. If handled improperly it comes across as “Know your place, boy.” It strikes some deep nerves with a lot of people – myself included in times past. And yet I now am beginning to see the value of it being done correctly. As a young man in my thinking (even at the chronological age of fifty-plus) I have tried to push through my agenda, my visions, my plans, my goals – even pushing against God! I never understood the depth and power in the words “due time.” In my mind there was only now. If it didn’t happen right now, then I was gone.

Now I see the pattern all throughout scripture. There are phrases like “In the fulness of time” “When the time was fully come” “At the appointed time” “In the course of time” all through the Bible. Then I was in grade school I loved fast cars. My sister had a Plymouth Road Runner Superbird – look those up if you don’t remember them. It was FAST and I loved it when she would take me somewhere! We had muscle cars all around my small town and I fell in love with the sound of the glass pack mufflers on them. Yet as much as I loved them and wanted so badly to drive them, I couldn’t until an appointed time. I grew up in a hunting family – my grandparents owned hundreds of acres of prime land, so I learned at an early age how to shoot a rifle. Yet I wasn’t mentally and socially prepared to responsibly handle a weapon until I matured some more. The same is true of every aspect of life. You can study it, learn all about it, play with it, yet not be ready to handle it in it’s full potential. That takes time. That takes training. That takes maturity. The same is true with handling the gospel, dealing with Christian concepts and deeper meanings, mentoring others. I may know about God, but I may not know God. I may know about children and parenting (intellectually), but I don’t know parenting because I have never had children of my own. I can share what I do know, but true mentoring and counsel on that subject comes from one who has been there. Our knowledge and wisdom comes from time spent with God. Time.

As I stated earlier, that hardest thing for me to learn is to wait upon God. To allow Him to develop me into whom I must become before He places me in a position of leadership. I shudder to think of how the elders must have felt when I became their Assistant Pastor at the age of twenty! I look back at some of the things I have thought I knew over the years and realize how foolish I must have looked and sounded. In like manner, it shames me to think of all the opportunities I ruined because I wanted to push through right then instead of waiting upon God’s timing for my life.

You may be feeling this way today, my friend. You have remained faithful for many years, you may have served under many different leaderships and on several committees, yet today you feel washed up. You aren’t being used as in times past, you feel tired, and you think God is finished with you. Not so, my friend. Oftentimes God will set someone aside for refitting. Much like equipment that has been used for years, maybe God is replacing some things that have worn out or restoring restfulness and peace in your spirit. You have been in the fight for a long time, so consider this God’s time of R&R (rest and refreshment) for you. Let God minister to you now, weary soldier. Let Him refill your cup that you might, when the time comes, be ready to fill others. In His time. At the appointed time. Your time will come. For now, rest.

Be blessed.