Is It Time Yet?
According to an old proverb, “He who hesitates is lost.” Reluctance to take action when needed can mean a missed opportunity, a forfeited blessing - and often with serious consequences.
Timing is not only a key element in earthly success - it is a powerful factor in the eternal plan of God. Jesus came to this world “when the fulness of the time was come” (Galatians 4:4). Part of why we know that Christ was precisely who He claimed to be is due to the prophetic timeline in Daniel 9:24-27. The longest portion of that timeline is unveiled in Daniel 8:14, after which there are no more prophecies based on time. “Time has not been a test since 1844, and it will never again be a test.”1 “When probation ends, it will come suddenly, unexpectedly - at a time when we are least expecting it.”2
If we are not to be calculating another timeline for our future, why is timing nonetheless crucial to our Christian experience?
As the return of Christ approaches, we are to be “looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God” (2 Peter 3:12). Yes, our actions can actually hasten His return. That means less suffering, less pain, less turmoil than would otherwise curse this sin-sick world. Shall we not then eagerly take part in that hastening?
“The most signal victories and the most fearful defeats have been on the turn of minutes. God requires promptness of action. Delays, doubtings, hesitation, and indecision frequently give the enemy every advantage. . . . The timing of things may tell much in favor of truth. Victories are frequently lost through delays. There will be crises in this cause. Prompt and decisive action at the right time will gain glorious triumphs, while delay and neglect will result in great failures and positive dishonor to God.”3
Through Christ’s words in John 4:35, we learn that if we would only lift up our eyes to see, the whitening harvest will be evident. We will miss it if we fail to watch for it. Now is the time to look!
“The work which the church has failed to do in a time of peace and prosperity she will have to do in a terrible crisis under most discouraging, forbidding circumstances. The warnings that worldly conformity has silenced or withheld must be given under the fiercest opposition from enemies of the faith.”4
“Our duty is not to be looking forward to some special time for some special work to be done for us, but to go forward in our work of warning the world; for we are to be witnesses of Christ to the uttermost parts of the world.”5