Timing. Much in life revolves around the right timing– and sometimes that timing becomes a catalyst for changing the timing of other events in our lives.
I was on a hunt to find an inexpensive carpet option to replace the 20 year old threadbare carpeting in my home office. After spending an hour trying to find just the right thing, my husband and I came out of the store to find a note on our car’s windshield. Someone had hit our car and crushed the entire front passenger door!
While we had planned to save up money and trade the car in two years down the road, the crushing of our car door became a catalyst that changed the timing of our plans.
Just a few days prior to that event, my hubby and I gave a small end-of-year donation to an organization we support. Those who donated were entered into a raffle to win an all-expense-paid trip to Cape Town, South Africa.
Apparently it was God’s timing for us to go on a trip. Out of nearly 500 entries, our name was selected and nine days later we were boarding a plane for an adventure God had divine purposes for us being on. The car issue would have to wait until we returned home.
Timing affects us all — whether it is an unexpected phone call, a surprise gift, an open door, a military relocation, a foster care request, a change in employment status, or an illness complicated by insurance issues.
Sometimes we groan over the timing of circumstances. Other times, we grin. Sometimes we do both.
In the Old Testament book of 2 Kings, we see an example of this (2 Kings 4:8-37 & 2 Kings 8:1-7).
In 2 Kings chapter 4, we are introduced to a wealthy woman who lived in Shunem. Shunem was a village located in Galilee along one of two main trading routes connecting Africa, Asia, and Europe. It was on the western slope of the Hill of Moreh. Any news happening in Shunem would have quickly spread since it was positioned in a place of influence. Keep this in mind as you read on…
The prophet Elisha came to Shunem, and met a wealthy couple who invited him to eat with them that day and anytime he passed through. Recognizing him as a prophet of God, they built a small private room on the roof of their home where Elisha could stay whenever he desired.
After enjoying their hospitality, Elisha wanted to bless them in return. He understood they had no heir, and the husband was old. He told the wife that at the same time the following year she would be holding a son in their arms. Just as foretold, she gave birth to a son who grew into a young boy.
One day however, the boy was out in the field with his father, became suddenly ill, and died. Distraught, the woman laid him in Elisha’s room and set off on a five hour journey to Mount Carmel to find Elisha who then followed her home. By the strength of God, Elisha restored the dead boy back to life.
News of this amazing miracle quickly spread up and down the international trade route. Any travelers passing through heard and were amazed to learn someone had been resurrected from the dead! From that point on, Shunem would be renowned for that miraculous event.
But the story doesn’t end there. That circumstance and God’s timing would become a catalyst for yet other divine appointments.
Interestingly, in the New Testament (Luke 7: 11-16) we read of Jesus restoring a widow’s dead son to life in the village of Nain – just on the other side of the Hill of Moreh in Galilee! People in the region would have recounted the well-known story of Elisha’s miracle nearby and connected Jesus with the prophets of old. (Jesus did nothing unintentionally.)
In 2 Kings 8:1-6 we see the continuation of the Shunnamite’s story. Elisha warned her about a seven year famine God was going to send, advising her to leave with her family and take refuge elsewhere. She left and lived in the land of the Philistines along the eastern Mediterranean Shoreline for those seven years. Upon returning (timing), she discovered their property had been taken over by a stranger in their absence and went to King Joram (timing) to beg for her house and land.
At the same time the Shunammite woman was there to appeal to the king, the king was in a conversation with Elisha’s servant, inquiring about all the great things Elisha had done.
During the exact moment Gehazi described how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman came to beg the king for her house and land. “This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.”
Talk about divinely appointed times!
Only God could orchestrate a seven-year absence, its return, and need to see the king, with the timing of a specific conversation between the king and Elisha’s servant – so that at the exact moment the woman comes up in conversation, she “happens” to appear!
Her story concludes with the king not only listening to her, but also restoring her property and reimbursing any income she lost while being gone those seven years.
The next time I am tempted to groan (or perhaps grin) over the timing of events in my life, I’m going to remember this beautiful example of divine timing found in Scripture.
I am going to choose to be grateful that I serve a good and gracious God who is writing the narrative details of my story. He is quite capable. And His timing is always intentional.