Just the Right Time

Blind Faith (No. 37, 2008)

Did you ever wonder why God did all those things recorded in the Bible so long ago, and not today? After all, instant news coverage and mass media of all kinds can get the word out worldwide in a flash, these days. But, consider the problems God avoided by calling Noah when he did, instead of in the fictional, contemporized setting posed in an e-mail message I received recently:

NOAH
In the year 2008, the Lord came unto Noah, who was now living in the United States, and said, “Once again, the earth has become wicked and overpopulated, and I see the end of all flesh before me. Build another Ark and save 2 of every living thing along with a few good humans.” He gave Noah the blueprints, saying, “You have 6 months to build the Ark before I will start the unending rain for 40 days and 40 nights.”
Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah weeping in his yard – but no Ark. “Noah!” He roared, “I’m about to start the rain! Where is the Ark?”
“Forgive me, Lord,” begged Noah, “but things have changed. I needed a building permit. I’ve been arguing with the inspector about the need for a sprinkler system. My neighbors claim that I’ve violated the neighborhood zoning laws by building the Ark in my yard and exceeding the height limitations. We had to go to the Development Appeal Board for a decision. Then the Department of Transportation demanded a bond be posted for the future costs of moving power lines and other overhead obstructions to clear the passage for the Ark’s move to the sea. I told them that the sea would be coming to us, but they would hear nothing of it. Getting the wood was another problem. There’s a ban on cutting local trees in order to save the spotted owl. I tried to convince the environmentalists that I needed the wood to save the owls – but NO GO! When I started gathering the animals, an animal rights group sued me. They insisted that I was confining wild animals against their will. They argued the accommodations were too restrictive, and it was cruel and inhumane to put so many animals in a confined space. Then the EPA ruled that I couldn’t build the Ark until they’d conducted an environmental impact study on your proposed flood. I’m still trying to resolve a complaint with the Human Rights Commission on how many minorities I’m supposed to hire for my building crew. Immigration and Naturalization are checking the green-card status of most of the people who want to work. The trades unions say I can’t use my sons. They insist I have to hire only Union workers with Ark-building experience. To make matters worse, the IRS seized all my assets, claiming I’m trying to leave the country illegally with endangered species. So, forgive me, Lord, but it would take at least 10 years for me to finish this Ark.”
Suddenly the skies cleared, the sun began to shine, and a rainbow stretched across the sky. Noah looked up in wonder and asked, “You mean you’re not going to destroy the world?”
“No,” said the Lord. “The government beat me to it.”
(Author unknown)

Looks like God’s timing was just right, all along!

God always does his work at just the right time. Creation occurred at just the right time. God’s salvation of Noah and all humankind through him happened at just the right time. Moses broke the bonds of slavery for God’s people and led them on their journey to the home God promised, at just the right time. God’s most loving and gracious work through Jesus Christ came at just the right time.

A recurring theme of Sunday School and Sunday evening Training Union lessons as I was growing up – perhaps as you were growing up, too – was God’s perfect timing for revealing himself to mankind. We studied the history of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendents), the kings of Israel (Saul, David, Solomon, and the monarchs of the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah), and the prophets. In each era, God’s people were presented with new insights into God’s love, justice, mercy, and care. God continually revealed himself, as much of himself as people were able to comprehend. Then, we learned, God did something brand new, just when human conditions were best ready to receive his most complete, personal revelation. In what would become known as the first century B.C., areas we call Europe, Asia, and Africa were united as never before by the power of the Roman Empire. Pax Romana, the Roman peace, quelled previously incessant wars of conquest in large areas of three continents. Earlier conquests by Alexander the Great had brought a common language, Greek, to much of those lands. The use of Greek was so universal that the most widely read version of the Hebrew scriptures (our Old Testament) was the Greek translation, the Septuagint. Trade and commerce flourished, and roads and shipping made travel all over the world, from Brittan, to India, to Ethiopia much easier than any time before. So, we learned, at just the right time Jesus was born into the world.

One Bible verse was paramount for teaching that Jesus was born at the right time in history: ” You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6 NIV) Certainly, the Roman world facilitated followers of Jesus taking the good news of his love and grace across major distances in the years immediately after his earthly ministry. It was the right historical, chronological time for God to reveal himself through his Son, Jesus Christ.

But God acts at a far more important “just right” time for each of us. The Greek word for time in Romans 5:6 does not refer to time on the calendar, but to time that is ripe and bursting with meaning and possibilities (Greek – kiros). It is, indeed, “just right” time for each person who encounters the subject, Jesus, regardless of the time in history. Another contemporary translation, with a couple of verses added to the context, indicates clearly that what God did through Jesus always comes to each of us today at just the right time, when we need him most: ” Since we have been made right with God by our faith, we have peace with God. This happened through our Lord Jesus Christ, {2} who has brought us into that blessing of God’s grace that we now enjoy. And we are happy because of the hope we have of sharing God’s glory…. {6} When we were unable to help ourselves, at the moment of our need, Christ died for us, although we were living against God.” (Romans 5:1-2, 6 NCV) We encounter today the same Jesus who rose from the dead 2000 years ago, historically, and he is with us in the moment of our most intense need, whenever that may occur for each of us.

God’s timely presence through time was stated well in a Psalm written almost 3,000 years ago: ” I know the LORD is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. {9} No wonder my heart is filled with joy, and my mouth shouts his praises! My body rests in safety.” (Psalm 16:8-9 NLT)

What time is it in your life? What do you need, right now? God is always at work, revealing himself in the marvels of creation, in obedient love and service of his faithful people, and in the written and living Word, the Bible and the eternal Son, Jesus Christ, and what he can do in your life. Not even government red tape can thwart God’s grace, which is just right for you, right now!

- J. Edward Culpepper, Ph.D.

Like a Stunned Hummingbird

Blind Faith (No. 36, 2008)

Another bird-on-deck parable:

When my wife, Sherron, and I had our deck built, we replaced

large floor-to-ceiling double windows with a triple-wide patio door

leading onto the deck. The expanse of glass both floods the den with

natural light and offers a broad view of the deck and sights beyond. A

pleasant feature right outside the window on the deck is a potted

salvia plant. We always have salvia there, because its brilliant red

blossoms are favorite feeding stops for hummingbirds. Elsewhere in the

yard, we have tree-form hibiscus plants, with double crimson blossoms

that also are natural hummingbird diners. As a result, we get to enjoy

frequent visits by hummingbirds with different patterns of coloration.

Our favorites are the ones with green feathers on their backs, black

wings and heads, and gray across the breast. Sherron is always excited

to report visits by hummingbirds to the salvia, clearly observable from

the den, as they hover amazingly for their in-flight draughts of

nectar. We have even been buzzed a time or two by hummingbirds when we

were outside, apparently at their mealtime.

Last Sunday, we were finishing cups of coffee after lunch when

Sherron spotted a hummingbird at the salvia, letting me know that we

had a visitor. Just a couple of minutes later, we heard a sharp THUD

against the glass of the patio door. “What was that, the hummingbird?”

I asked. Sherron got up from her chair across the den from the door,

and looked out mere inches from the glass. “O, my! Yes!” she said. A

hummingbird lay sprawled out on the deck, lying on its back, its wings

extended and its head skewed at an unnatural angle to its body. Its

tail feathers twitched erratically, either blown by gusts of wind on

the breezy afternoon, or involuntarily as the little bird lay in

obvious distress. “I think its neck is broken,” Sherron said. “What

should we do?” Although I love hummingbirds, I was not anxious to

incur the expense of neurosurgery and NICU veterinary care for our

visitor, nor did I want to make its condition worse by moving the at-

least-dazed bird. “Let’s give it some time,” I replied, “and see what

becomes of it.”

Sherron noted the time of impact. She went out onto the deck

through the door in the kitchen to water other plants on the deck.

While on the deck, she took a long, close look at the motionless

hummingbird. From the stairs of the deck, she could see the probable

cause of the hummingbird’s catastrophic collision. The early afternoon

light caused the door glass to reflect the deck and the sky with mirror

clarity. She could not see into the den from outside. Apparently, the

hummingbird had drunk its fill at the salvia, then assumed it was

taking a perfectly clear flight path — right into the door glass, with

disastrous results.

Stepping back into the kitchen, Sherron walked to the den for

another vantage point. To her surprise, the hummingbird had begun to

move its head back and forth to one side, and to move its wing on that

side. She returned to the kitchen to warm another cup of coffee for 90

seconds in the microwave. When she returned to the den, the

hummingbird was sitting up on its feet! It turned its head tenuously

side to side. It fluttered its wings, although it did not take flight

or lift from its perch on the deck floor. The tiny bird simply sat for

about five minutes, seemingly trying to regain its wits. Occasionally,

it would look quickly to either side. Then, twenty five minutes after

the unsettling collision, the hummingbird took a hop, its wings beating

at blurring speed, and it fluttered and flew away! Sherron said that

she had committed the hapless bird into God’s care some time

before.

Hear the parable of the stunned hummingbird. It is not

intended to be an allegory, in which each element in the story stands

for some feature of the readers’ lives. Allegorical interpretations

are applied to almost all parables, but the entirety of the story in

the parable is often the most powerful message.

Our hummingbird suffered its injury through no faulty judgment

or misconduct. It apparently saw what looked like a perfectly safe

path to fly on its way to another feeding flower, or perhaps back home

after a satisfying meal. But the image of open sky concealed the

unyielding glass, and its natural flight speed created an impact that

left the beautiful hummingbird stunned and utterly helpless.

Fortunately, God so gifted living things with regenerative energies and

abilities, that after a period of anxious rest, the diminutive bird

resumed its wondrous hovering and flitting flight.

Sometimes, calamities happen in our lives that have no ill-

intention, whatsoever, as their cause. No malice, no negligence, no

self-serving ambition, no animosity, no lapse in judgment creates the

catastrophe, it just happens. We may be left stunned, disoriented,

disabled, or worse. We wonder if we can survive. Thanks be to God, we

may find that some quiet moments in God’s care allow new possibilities

to regenerate, and our lives can resume.
A Psalm of David – who was afflicted both by trouble of his own

making, the ill intentions of others, and some things that just

happened – testifies to the secret to regaining life in the face of

disaster. David wrote of the need to simply sit still in God’s care

for awhile: ” God is our protection and our strength. He always helps

in times of trouble. {2} So we will not be afraid even if the earth

shakes, or the mountains fall into the sea, {3} even if the oceans roar

and foam, or the mountains shake at the raging sea…. {10} God says,

‘Be quiet and know that I am God….’ {11} The LORD All-Powerful is

with us; the God of Jacob is our defender.” (Psalm 46:1-3, 10a, 11 NCV)

Our hearts may race anxiously as we try to sit still in God’s care and

trust his design and grace to restore us, but his record of restoration

is proven.

Of course, many disasters happen due to our own wayward

schemes. In the cartoons, Wile E. Coyote schemed to catch Road Runner

by painting an apparent railroad tunnel on the side of a rock cliff.

Coyote would lay railroad tracks leading to the rock face, expecting

Road Runner to come speeding along the tracks, smashing into the image

of the railroad tunnel. What happened most often, however, was that

Wile E. Coyote would chase Road Runner along the bogus tracks,

forgetting that the tunnel was just a painted image, and smash in to

the rock himself. Or, he would think he had Road Runner cornered

against the rock face, only to have a locomotive emerge from a real

tunnel and flatten him on the tracks. Sometimes, we set the stage for

our own catastrophes.

We are instructed in the scriptures to do all we can to avoid

getting ourselves into calamitous situations we can avoid. Paul

cautions followers of Jesus to wake up, to be alert, to realize that

dangers lurk around us, especially endangering our living consistent

lives that display the love and grace of Christ. He writes, ” Watch

your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These

are desperate times! Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you

understand what the Master wants. (Ephesians 5:15-17, The

Message) God’s quiet care is always available, even when we get

ourselves into a jam. His intention for us, though, is to be attuned

to his way of love and grace, and to make every effort to stay out of

trouble.

Have you crashed and burned? Did it just happen to you, in

spite of your best judgment and intentions? Or, did you set yourself

up for disaster? In either case, the most powerful restorative answer

comes from Psalm 46: “Be still, and know that I am God.” Resting

awhile in his care may be exactly what you need to put you back on your

wings.

J. Edward Culpepper, Ph.D.