Time for everything?
A natural order
In the past, people who lived closer to the land were much more aware of the natural cycle of the seasons and rhythms of life. The God who created harmony in the natural order, has built this understanding into life from the time of creation.
The more we move into the artificial world of our own creation, the further we move from an understanding of the natural laws that operate in life. Solomon understood this when he wrote, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, ..." (Eccl.3:1-8).
God’s interruptions
Sometimes life can become so frantic that we resent any 'interruption' to our established routines and plans. If we allow these interruptions to get 'under our skin', we will become even more frustrated. However, it is in these interruptions that God can meet us in the most unexpected and blessed ways.
In his 4-volume autobiography, In a Tyrannical Abyss, Yuri Grachev tells of his experiences as a believer in Stalinist Russia. In his books he adopts the name of Leva, who, from the age of 19, went through several prison terms and terrible sufferings. Why? Firstly, because he wanted to remain faithful to Jesus Christ when officialdom was determined to obliterate the very memory of Christendom; and, secondly, because he was visiting imprisoned believers in isolated areas and encouraging them in the Lord.
Desperate to get home
Leva was finally released after his third term in prison―a total of 11 years. He was desperately anxious to get back home to see his mother and sisters at Kuybyshev (Samara). To get back home, however, he needed official permission so that he could buy his train ticket. He longed to see his loved ones after all those years, yet delay after delay postponed his departure from Ufa that weekend. How had his family managed while his father was in exile, also for his faith in Christ?
Weak, cold, hungry, and alone, Leva sat down to pray. He then remembered someone telling him about a believer in Ufa who worked at a particular factory.
That’s all Leva knew about him. When he found the factory, he stood outside the gates until it was time for the workers to go home.
"Excuse me. Do you know a believer working here, who is a Baptist?" Leva asked an elderly workman.
"Yes, that’s him over there," replied the man.
A wonderful surprise!
What joy it was to meet a fellow believer after years of being away from the warmth and encouragement of Christian fellowship! What added to that joy was that on the following day, the believers in Ufa were meeting for worship with official permission for the first time in years.
After dinner that evening, Leva and his host Shangarov, went to prepare the room for the following day’s service. Others joined them, mainly young women. Most of the men were either in the Red Army, or in prison for their faith.
The Church is not dead
In the preceding years, the repressive measures taken against the Church by Communist authorities were so strong, that most of the believers had been silenced. Some denominational leaders had denounced God, and were selling anti-religious literature in the market places. Other believers had become completely silent. Faithful pastors were in prison; others had given up their faith to avoid persecution for themselves and their families. The young people had been strongly intimidated.
What Leva witnessed that Saturday evening, moved him deeply. These young people were excited about their faith in Christ. The embers of faith were beginning to burst into flames. They were ready to live and witness for Christ whatever the cost.
Sunday came. The room was already packed when Yuri and Shangarov arrived. The people's eyes shone with anticipation. People kept coming. Some had to stand around the walls of the room, while others had to be satisfied with the corridor outside.
Resurrection Sunday
The service began with songs of praise and prayers of thanksgiving. How they thanked the Lord for giving them this opportunity to worship together! God’s Word was preached, and people rejoiced to hear it freely once more.
As the meeting drew to a close, Leva was asked to share something from God’s Word. Gaunt, poorly dressed, with the closely cropped haircut of an ex-convict, he felt very much out of place among people who had come to the service in their best, most festive clothes.
Freedom for the prisoner
Leva read from Luke 4:18,19, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoner and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour."
As he spoke of the wonder of God’s grace and mercy in Christ, the Holy Spirit fell upon that meeting. People began to weep in repentance, seeking God’s forgiveness for their sins, and their failures throughout the years of repression. The downtrodden received new strength. Some of those who had been ill, were healed. In his account, Grachev went on to say that the angels in heaven, and the earth itself, welcomed the penitent and all rejoiced greatly. He, to whom has been given all power in heaven and on earth, stood among them that day, ready to bless all who called upon His holy name. Taking human frailty and inadequacy, as it was offered up to Him, God poured out His power — at the right time!
As Yuri Grachev witnessed the resurrection of the Ufa church that day, he realised that all the delays at the Ufa railway station, and the government offices, were of God’s making. He had a purpose for keeping him in Ufa that weekend, for his own encouragement, and for the blessing of the Church. While in prison, he had been told many times by his interrogators that there was virtually nothing left of the Christian Churches in Russia.
Preparation for the future
The events in Ufa that Sunday, provided them with the encouragement they all needed, before the next wave of repression broke over them again―a wave that was bigger than anything they had witnessed before.
God’s timing is always right. We, on the other hand, can be so busy with our own routines, activities and plans, that we tend to resent ‘interruptions’ God might be sending our way. The danger is, we can miss out learning and benefiting from these ‘interruptions’. The Psalmist said, I trust in you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hands… (Ps.31:14,15).
The right time
Each Christmas time we are reminded that when the time had fully come (just at the right time), God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons (and daughters). (Gal.4:4). What a moment!
The ability to express confidence in the Lord’s control of all the events in our lives, and His timing, can keep us from frustration and despondency. It can also keep us from missing out on learning the lessons He has for us.