Now Is The Time

Photo credit: Horia Varlan

Joshua 8: 1-2 "Then the Lord said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city." (Emphasis mine).


Have you ever wanted to do something and the Lord says to you, 'wait'. Or, 'not yet'? 


A while ago, I wrote about how during the wait, God's doing something significant that we may not be seeing with our natural eye. 


Sometimes we may think that because it's taking so long or because we don't see what we are thinking it should be like, that its reason to settle for something less, but we all know that that's not what God wants for our lives, He wants to give us His best. We know that there are many reasons He asks us to wait, but because we are His child, waiting is for our benefit, and it creates opportunity for a new thing in our lives, and all to the glory of God. Amen.


I had the opportunity to read this verse in the Book of Joshua.
This verse became important after reading Chapters 6 and 7, which I recommend you read as well to get the full context.


Briefly, in Chapters 6 and 7, the Lord had told Joshua that he had delivered Jericho into his hands (i.e. given him the city). He was then commanded to march around the city once  with all the armed men, for 6 days. On the 7th day, they were to march around the city 7 times. In Joshua 6:18 the Lord says to Joshua to keep away from the devoted things as it would bring trouble. Later in Chapter 7 we see that a guy named Achan had hopped on along and taken that which was devoted, when it wasn't the time to. 


We know it wasn't the time to take these ''good things'' from the land yet, as in Chapter 8, from what the Lord says to Joshua after He tells him to go into another city: "Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged.... You shall do to Ai and its kind as you did to Jericho (the place of the previous battle), except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves..." (Joshua 8:1-2). 


The New Living Translation says, "But this time you may keep the plunder and livestock for yourselves...." 


But this time...
This time. The event of going into another city had occurred before, but it was this time, it was thee time. This particular time. Outside of that time was the wrong time. 


Waiting. It can be a tough one eh?

We all make mistakes and may do something we're not supposed to at the appointed time. Even if you're a leader, you're going to make mistakes. It's just about being real with yourself and not allowing yourself or others put you on an untouchable pedestal. It's about how we handle it after the mistake that counts, i.e. did we learn something, did we grow from it? Are we getting closer to God now because of it? Are we now ready to do what God's asking us to do? etc.


I've already told you about how I started this whole website and went ahead of God, put all these sections to the website and I was all super jolly about it, only to have Him ask me to only start with one blog post. *Ouch* :) I smile about it now, but yes it was majorly humbling at the time. I can only boast in the Lord: but since then, I've never had to sit down and think: "what is the next blog post going to be?" but more of waiting on God until He told me what to say next; He's had the lead. It's a waiting process as well because I would sometimes see other sites doing 'more' stuff or had more sections, but had to wait on God's voice, and then proceed. Not only that, but we don't know other people's story or journey as they did their work, so it's unfair to judge by what the human eye can see. Amen. :)

God's timing is so perfect, when you see it happening, you'll be so content that you'll forget about past experiences or wonder why you went ahead before! He has it all under control.

Waiting on God teaches us to submit to Him, and to let Him take the lead.

This time, the Israelites had the joy (hallelujah!) of carrying the plunder and livestock, as the Lord said they could do. You too, will be able to enjoy what He's asking you to do. He had opened the door to enjoy this wonderful gift.


Let's remember that when God says 'not yet', it's 'not yet'. When He says 'go', 'go'. There's a time for everything :)

So here are the questions: Is the Lord telling you to go? Is He telling you that NOW is the right time? Enter the doors to which He is telling you to go. Why don't you have a nice heart to heart with the Lord tonight? He's with you all the way, as He's leading you to go where you wants you to go. Amen!