In Just the Right Time episode 168

0:00 If you love a prodigal, you can discover help and hope for your wilderness journey right here at the When You Love a Prodigal podcast, and also help and hope for your own life journey. I trust you have, since our episode on joy last time, found some joy surprises in your prodigal journey. Today, we're talking about God's perfect timing. It's the waiting, isn't it? Will it ever end? Will change ever come? Will the pain, confusion, fear, anger, despair ever end? And if things get better, will trouble return? I did not like the waiting. During the dozen -plus years it took Josh to turn from his pretty bad choices, we waited. on our knees, with tears, clinging to Jesus. In recent years, things have been much better. Josh is not making the terrible choices he did for so long. I don't call him a prodigal now. He has become a responsible, hardworking man. We have a great relationship. There is trust.

1:19 But still, we waited. It was very challenging. And then it was challenging again. Josh's first marriage fell apart. In his despair, he returned to old patterns, made choices of the past. A brief reunion with his wife crashed, and he went into a deep depression. And I have said many times, I thought it was time. Isn't it time, Lord? Are we doing this again? How long, Lord? And I know you, my listeners, understand. We all know the truths of Scripture. We know that God is bigger than time. Listen to what the true followers in the Old Testament, who often grew weary in the waiting, came to understand. Moses I love this. A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by or like a watch in the night. That's from Psalm 90. Every time you hear that, I bet it blows your mind to think of a thousand years and a day. David, David had made some bad choices, but he comes and he says in Psalm 31, but I trust in you, Lord. I say you are my God. My times are in your hands. And

2:51 Isaiah says in Isaiah 55, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. And we all know that, don't we? We know that God's ways are different than ours, but sometimes, many times, many days, even many years, We struggle to accept, to act on, to live by, to rest in, to believe these truths. It seems too hard, too long, too uncertain. How long, Lord, will it ever end? But these truths are true. They are reality. And that is what we will look at, delve into, listen for just for a few moments. God's perspective on time for our prodigals, for us, for the kingdom, for eternity. One verse has especially sustained me over all of these years. Isaiah 60, 22. I go to it so often. Isaiah quotes the Lord, says, I am the Lord. In its time, I will do this swiftly.

4:12 In its time. Consider what the Lord is saying to us through these words to the children of Israel just before their return from 70 years of captivity. That's a long time, 70 years, more than probably we've experienced with our prodigals. Again, he says, I am the Lord. And we just need to be reminded who God is and what he's like. And he knows everything. And we need to remember he's the Lord. And we need to recognize what he's saying through these sayings. I am God and you are not. with several variations of that.

4:58 Sure, I have many good plans, ideas, schedules for how things should play for my life and my loved one. God reminds me who is in control. And then he says, in its time. So I want its time to be my time now. And it just isn't. He's got other plans. And I, this I, of course, is God, not this I, I. I, God says, will do this. Let that sink in. He says, I will do this. We can't make it happen, but he can and he will.

5:39 And then he says this beautiful word. He says swiftly. Now, we know our timing and his are not the same, but for him, it's not too long. It is swiftly, soon, now, no more waiting. But the swiftness is not in my time. It's in God -ordained time. Recently, my former prodigal, who has really been doing well, had some surgery. The surgical wound has been very slow to heal. He has not been able to get up and do things around their farm. He can't go back to work yet. And he's been very frustrated, angry, crabby, even depressed. He doesn't like this timing at all. So whether it's with a prodigal, a former wanderer, or our own impatience, God is still the timekeeper. As I have been in the Word, asking God what he wants to say to us about time, I have looked at days and months and years, today, tomorrow, and the waiting. It's so rich. because I get to see God in it, and I have a bigger picture of who he is and how puny I am compared to him, how intentional he is, all in love and with lots

7:10 of grace. Our theme verse in these times that are hard for us must be, I am the Lord in its time. I will do this swiftly. So be praying with me. I'll be praying for you that we will let God speak to us, teach us, change us, and prepare us to come into his throne room with humility and the power and effectiveness that we can ask him for to do the things that he can do, will do. He says, I will make it happen. and the good work that he is doing in our loved ones and in us. And I find it's always good to remember that as much as I'm here and you're where you are, to pray for those that we love who are making some not great choices in life or some really bad ones, to recognize God is always working.

8:17 He's not abandoning it, even as he's got waiting. in our time, it doesn't mean he's quit. It just means he's working in ways we can't see. And he's working as much in us as he is in our loved prodigals. And I find that's always good to remember and to stop and say, Lord, so what is for me in this besides patience and trusting you? What are you trying to say to me in the waiting? And so I just encourage you that In its time, and in God's perfect time, he will accomplish his good purposes, his good plans, and you will see the goodness of God, even in your living time and not later. Now, I know things don't always happen exactly like we think they will, or even that we think God will do it, but he says, trust me, I'm working. I love your loved one more than you do. and I have the exact right time. God bless you.