"Irony is a disciplinarian feared only by those who do not know it, but cherished by those who do."- Soren Kierkegaard.
Ain't it the truth! Who doesn't love a little irony now and then, right? There is truly sometimes you just have to laugh. Something I discovered this week is that God apparently loves irony too. He has certainly used it to teach me quite a few things.
School is winding down to a close; summer break is within tasting distance. But these last three weeks are going to be push, push, collapse, get back up, and push further. So with all the anxiety that there is to be had over tests, final projects, homework, grades, ect, it seems a fitting time for that end of the semester break down. I know I'm not alone in this. I have two other roommates and various friends that have joined me in the "fifteen minutes of tears" club. But the funny thing is, its not the immediate future I've been so stressed about. No, in fact, its the very far, distant future that I have absolutely no control over.
First comes the area of my career. Being rejected from a job at Sea World this summer did not bode so well for the hope of getting hired there in the future. Which leaves questions of "Do I even want this anymore? Can I do this? Where will I work? How will I support myself? How will I even start to look for a job once I graduate? Where will I live? Will I get married?" which can all be summed up in, WHAT AM I REALLY GOING TO DO FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE?!
Well, as it so happened, as it often does, this question had haunted me all week until finally while on the phone to my parents, my breakdown came. I couldn't hold back the tears anymore. And, my parents being wonderful that they are, kept reminding me that God is in control. That He has a plan. A dear friend also reminded me earlier that Thursday that I had recounted to her about how over the summer I learned how God's timing is perfect. Oh how quickly we forget these things!
Well, God must have known how forgetful of a person I truly am because of all the weeks and all the topics of Navigators, this week we had a guest speaker. His topic? God's perfect timing. I know. Nicely played God. So here was this adorable 90 year old man, who I literally just wanted to feed a cookie and adopt as an honorary grandpa, talking about God's timing and how His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55). I mean, the guy's old! He knows a thing or two about time! And yet, he pointed out that "The LORD is not slow in keeping His promise..." (2 Peter 3:9) But God is on a totally different time scale! What we would consider to be slow is a blink of an eye.
Some examples of God's timing? The Hebrews were slaves in Egypt for 430 years before God delivered them. They spent forty years in the wilderness before allowed to enter The Promised Land. They spent 70 years in the Babylonian captivity. In between the words of Malachi and the coming of Jesus there were 400 years of silence. You get the picture. All of a sudden being twenty one and having to wait two years to figure out what to do for a job doesn't seem like such a bad deal.
Psalm 31:15 reminds us that our times are in the Lord's hands. The events of our everday lives are not unknown or unrelated to our Savior. Sometimes we see the big picture immediately. Sometimes, like with Joseph being sold into slavery and saving the entire land of Egypt from famine, we see the big picture a few years later. And sometimes, like with Job, we never see it. But this should not cause us to doubt. Because God sees the big picture. And He and His Word transcend all time. That's something we can stick to.
"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" (Jeremiah 29:11)
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