A "GOING"

A "GOING"

Thousands of years ago, King David asked the Lord for directions in resisting an attack of the Philistines (ancient Palestinians) upon Israel. "Shall I attack?" was the question. The Lord forbade him to do it, though he could have probably "whipped the socks off of them" had he been permitted to do so.

It is usually better to hearken to the counsel of the Lord than to do things in our own way, and in our own time. So often, our own promptings are laced with fear or anger and retaliation, and can cause more problems than they solve.

God had His own battle plan, and all He wanted David to do was to cooperate with Him in the operation. The Bible records the incident in two places.

II Samuel 5:24 And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then shall the LORD go out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines.

I Chronicles 14:15 And it shall be, when thou shalt hear a sound of going in the tops of the mulberry trees, [that] then thou shalt go out to battle: for God is gone forth before thee to smite the host of the Philistines.

In this case, TIMING was the MOST IMPORTANT aspect of the defense strategy. It is often so, especially when the Lord has been brought into the equation.

I have often thought of Paul, in his dealing with the girl who was following them and telling everybody they were the servants of the Most High God. Paul wisely waited until he was prompted of the Holy Ghost before he did anything about it.

Acts 16:16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.

My first impulse would have been to tackle the problem immediately (I have done so many times, and become dismayed). But God's ways and times are different than ours.

I also often think of Abraham's servant by the well in Mesopotamia, when looking for a wife for Isaac:

Genesis 24:14 And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: [let the same be] she [that] thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master. And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder.

We also see the exact timing of the shouting of the warriors of Israel when the marching around the walls of Jericho was completed.

Joshua 6:10 And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall [any] word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout.

How about Peter and John at the gate Beautiful? The lame man had been there for a long time. Had they never seen him? Yes, they undoubtedly knew about him. But, without the prompting of the Holy Ghost it might not have been wise to try to do anything about the situation.

Acts 3:2 And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted [him] up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.

Jesus at the pool of Bethesda is another example of the TIMING OF THE LORD.

How many incidents can you think about, in which the timing of God was a determining factor?