Timing. Even More Perfect Than We Thought.

It is possible to be outside of God's will and inside it at the same time.

What I mean by that is that something can be right, but not right now. We can get out of order by refusing to listen to the Holy Spirit and taking for ourselves right now what God has prepared to give us later, in His perfect timing. I am the worst at jumping the gun on God's timing.

Think about Adam and Eve.* Classic, classic mistake. Creator God came down every day to walk through Eden with them in the cool of the evening. They would literally walk and talk with God Himself. Don't you know they had amazing conversations? Can you imagine learning how everything works firsthand from the One whose infinite wisdom had breathed those things into existence? Adam and Eve weren't created knowing everything, otherwise, there would have been no temptation in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. But God knew that the wrong knowledge, or knowledge given in the wrong order would destroy them. It was part of His plan to reveal to them everything they needed to know in a way that would continue to deepen and strengthen the relationship He had with these firstborn of creation. They were inherently dependent on Him to teach them in a similar way to how a newborn child is dependent on its parents.

Like every human being after them, Adam and Eve were susceptible to doubt and pride. Maybe God was holding out on them, they thought. Maybe there was some really amazing stuff He wasn't telling them because He didn't want them to be too much like Him. Now isn't that ironic when you think about it? How could they begin to think the very God who had crafted them in His image, the imago dei, would want to keep them from becoming like Him? Here is a perfect example of the way Satan is able to twist logic in human understanding.

So in the greatest act of betrayal in human history man and woman took the forbidden fruit, ate it and suddenly realized they knew more than they ever wanted to. In fact, they knew more than they were capable of synthesizing.

The most beautiful part of the story of creation is the story of redemption that follows it. Adam and Eve did not escape the consequences of their actions. They began a process of spiritual and physical death, they set a burden upon humanity and creation and took upon themselves a life of pain, work and unfulfilled longing. In essence, they reaped what they had sown. But God had no intention of throwing them to the wayside. He had destined them for an incredible knowledge of Himself that would lead to a beautiful relationship and He was not to be thwarted. He had already set in motion the most intricate and glorious plan of redemption so they might be restored to the knowledge and perfection He'd designed them for. For man and woman the journey to that end goal got a lot more complex and painful, but they had not fallen from the reach of grace. Grace would redeem them still.

Now my story doesn't register on nearly such an epic a scale. I'm not setting the tone for humanity. BUT this archetype points to a truth about stepping outside of God's timing. Sin–and make no mistake, usurping God's timing is sin–does not take us outside of the reach of grace. We may not have disqualified ourselves from reaching the end goal, but we have probably introduced a level of heartache and difficulty that did not need to be there. And we've also opened ourselves up to the attack of the enemy. These are the very things God wants to help us avoid.

God does not vindictively snatch away what our heart desires when we get life out of order, but He often needs to reshape our desire so that it can fit within the context of His will, His good, perfect and pleasing will. Why? because, whether we see it or not, His will is what is BEST. God always has His glory in mind and our best interest always rests inside what best displays His glory. An unwillingness to wait or work through the proper process reveals that we are not yet capable of handling, or even fully enjoying, what He wants to give us. These are tough, painful truths to walk through the process of learning, but they certainly make the prospect of grace even more saturated with hope.





*Please know I'm not suggesting this is the only or primary theme of the story of the fall. But I think this is one lesson among many we can glean from what happened in the garden. As always, I'm happy to share with you more fully where I get this from Scripture.