6 Therefore Jesus told them, “My time is not yet here; for you any time will do.”
-John 7:6 NIV
In this passage, Jesus’ skeptical brothers were attempting to convince Him to go to Judea for the Festival of Tabernacles. They believed Jesus had something to prove, and this was the perfect opportunity for Him to do it.
Jesus had different plans.
In fact, Jesus was completely unmoved and unbothered by their opinions.
One of the things that confounds me about Jesus is how unrushed He was. The Son of God was never in a hurry. He was one with God the Father and that shaped and influenced how He viewed and spent His time. God’s timing wasn’t a source of frustration for Him. He wasn’t trying to speed up His mission (let’s get this over already, Lord!) or find a shortcut (can we skip the suffering and get straight to the resurrection part of the story?)
Jesus’ alignment to God’s timing provides us a radical example of faith and obedience. Obedience doesn’t somehow fast track God’s blessings in our lives. It doesn’t speed along the things we long and hope for, and we don’t walk in obedience simply to get what we want on our timelines.
Often, obedience looks like continuing to wait on the Lord even when the world around us is telling us we need to take matters into our own hands to manufacture our breakthroughs and successes. We submit ourselves to God’s ways out of worship and faith. God is perfect and so is His timing.
When we take a cue from Jesus, we stop asking the Lord to hurry some things up because we feel behind. Instead, we seek to become attuned to His voice and guidance to discern where He wants us and what He’s called us to from moment to moment and season to season.
So today, where has the Lord called you and how can you practice obedience there? Can you thank God for His timing as you trust in His ways?
*This reflection comes from my own time in the Word while completing the Seek First Journal. Click here to learn more