Ron Dunn Podcast - The Flow Of God's Power His Timing

Episode Date: September 22, 2022

Ron Dunn speaks on God's Timing

Now if you'll open your Bibles to the Old Testament, again to the third chapter of Joshua, and we'll read just the fifth verse. Joshua chapter 3, verse 5. we have read the entire chapter before last week this fifth verse I think would be the key to the chapter the heart of the chapter and Joshua said unto the people sanctify yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you sanctify yourselves get ready prepare your hearts whatever preparation is needed make it because the power of God is made available to those who are prepared to receive that power. And when God's power is released in the life of and on behalf of his people, the only result

is simply wonders that are done in their behalf. The flow of God's power is the most necessary element in the believer's life. And this third chapter, as we've already seen, marks a turning point in the history of God's people. It marks the end of 40 years of defeat and the beginning of a new experience of victory. And it happened simply because God stepped in and said to his people, get ready because tomorrow I'm going to do wonders among you and God moved in and his power and his omnipotent ability was released in the lives of those people and that made all

the difference and all the difference is made in your life and in my life it matters not if you stand before a Jordan River, that seems impossible. And as this river was at that time, flowing its banks, making it even more difficult, making it even a more impossible situation, if you can ever tap into the power of God and get the power of God acting on your behalf, it does not matter how high the Jordan is and how heavily it rolls. There is no power on heaven and earth that can keep you from accomplishing what God has in eternity provided for you. And so the most important question, as we've already seen, that the believer can ask is,

how is it that I can get the power of God flowing into my life? What is it that causes God's power to act on behalf of some and does not act on behalf of others? We look back on our past life, maybe just this past week, and there have been some things that could have been avoided, some difficulties, some disasters, some mistakes, some failures that could have been avoided if only we could have somehow or another tapped into that power of God and had God acting

for us on our behalf. And so what we're considering this morning and tonight, as we did last Sunday morning, is the flow of God's power. What determines the flow of the power of God in our life? And we've already seen that in the first place that the power of God flows in the direction of his purpose, that God's power is simply the executive arm of his purpose. God's power is not an emergency first aid kit that he gives to us that we can use to satisfy our own desires or to get us out of difficult situations in which we got ourselves,

but it is the power of God made available when you and I are in the channel of God's purpose. The very moment I step outside the will of God, the very moment I abandon God's purpose for my life, I can say goodbye to God's power. Because God's power does not flow in the direction of man's fancy or in the direction of my wishing or my selfish ambition. It always flows in the channel of God's eternal purpose. And so the first thing is this, as we've already seen, if I want the power of God moving in my life,

that power released through my life, I must make certain that I am in the stream of the purpose of God. I must find God's purpose in my life and find that will in my life and fit myself into God's eternal purpose. But not only does the power of God flow in the direction of his purpose, what we want to discuss this morning is that it also flows according to his timing. The power of God flows according to God's timing. Now, one of the significant things as we read these first chapters of Joshua, as God is preparing his people to enter into the promised land

and possess all that God has for them, is that there are certain phrases that indicate that God is working according to a heavenly schedule. In the first chapter, he tells Joshua that they are to get ready and prepare food for in three days they will pass over this Jordan. God has set that limit, three days, and then the countdown takes place. And in this verse 5, God comes again and he says, Sanctify the people.

Let the people sanctify themselves for tomorrow I will do wonders in your behalf. And so it's very obvious that God is working according to a schedule. He's not working according to man's timing, but he's working according to God's timing. Now, understanding this principle of God's timing is indispensably essential in living a Christian life that is devoid of frustration and anxiety and panic. And I am convinced this morning that a great many Christians are living on their nerves and have moved into a panic palace simply because they do not understand this important truth, the fact that God's power flows according to his timing, according to his timing, not according to my timing, but according to God's timing. And it is so that it's possible for you to do the

right thing at the wrong time and doing the right thing at the wrong time can bring about disaster in your life and the Bible story is littered with the wrecks of men and the wrecks of nations who have done the right thing at the wrong time you see see, God may come to you and reveal his purpose for you. You may see clearly what it is that God wants to do in your life. You may see clearly what it is God wants you to do. There was no doubt in the mind of anybody that God wanted the people to cross over Jordan. They had known this for 40 years plus. God had been waiting and preparing them. There was no surprise that the purpose of God was that they cross over Jordan and that they

possessed the land. But what was a mystery to many of the people was that God had his timing and that God's power flowed according to God's own heavenly schedule. There was a right thing to do, but there was a right time to do it. And it is not enough for you to know what it is God wants you to do. That in itself is not sufficient because if you step out ahead of God and do not wait for God's perfect timing in that situation, it's going to bring more difficulty than you can ever imagine. I think the obvious illustration, of course, is found in the experience of Moses.

Now, Moses knew that God wanted to deliver his people from the bondage of Egypt, and I'm convinced that Moses knew that God had spared his life in a miraculous way because God wanted to use Moses to do it, Moses saw the will of God clearly. It was to use this man as the instrument of his deliverance to bring his people out of bondage and into the promised land. The only mistake that Moses made was a mistake in timing. He started 40 years too soon, and it resulted in Moses spending 40 years in the backside of the desert. And as I told the deacons the other night, backside of the desert is Hebrew for the boonie dogs. He had to flee for his life. He made a mess of everything. He took the plan of God, unwilling to wait on God's time,

took God's work in his own hands, and did the right thing at the wrong time. And you know, it's amazing. When I get ahead of God and don't wait for God's timing, I just foul things up. Moses said that he was going to deliver Israel from Egypt, and I guess he thought he would do it by killing one Egyptian at a time. I don't know if he ever calculated how long it would take him to deliver Israel by that method,

but it would have been an impossible task. But when God's timing was right, when God's timing was right, God delivered the entire nation in one night, in one night. It was all so easy. God did it all because the power of God flowed into the lives of Israel, and the Bible says Israel went out with a high hand. They went out on top. They went out without a threat of defeat because they waited for God's timing. You see another illustration of this in Abraham. God had come to Abraham and had said to him, I'm going to give you a son, and that son is going to bless all the nations of the earth. He said it'll be easier to count the stars in the sky than to

count your children. It'll be easier to count the grains of sand on the seashore than to count your seed. And so God's word was clear and God's will was obvious. God was going to give Abraham a son. And through that son, he was going to bless all the nations of the earth. Only one problem. Abraham didn't understand God's timing. And the days went by and they turned into months and the months turned in the years and the years ticked off the calendar and it wasn't until Abraham was a hundred years old and Sarah was 90 that God fulfilled his

promise but Abraham and Sarah got ahead of God's timing and they and they moved out out of God's will the timing timing of God. The timing of God. You see, it may be that God has revealed to you what he wants to do in your life, and yet he hasn't done it yet. This happens sometimes in the matter of guidance. Sometimes we don't know what God wants us to do. We come to the Lord and we say, all right, Lord, here's my life. I hand it over to you.

I submit it to you. Now, what do you want me to do? And we immediately expect to hear a flash from heaven and God to come and speak to us in a tremendous way and say, all right, here's exactly what I want you to do. But most of the time, we're greeted with nothing but silence. And we keep waiting for guidance. We keep waiting for direction. We keep waiting for some word from the Lord. I was reading just yesterday in Jeremiah 42, some people

were in a tough situation. They didn't know whether they were to stay in one city or move to another city. And the nation was at stake. The future of the nation was at stake. And they went to Jeremiah, the prophet. After all, he's God's prophet. He ought to know. I mean, if there's anybody that ought to be able to get through and get to God and get an answer from God, it ought to be Jeremiah. And so they come crying to Jeremiah and beg Jeremiah to go to God and ask us what we're to do. Jeremiah chapter 42, I believe it's the seventh verse.

It says that after ten days, then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. After ten days, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. Even Jeremiah, a prophet whom God had chosen from his mother's womb, could not get through and get the answer according to his timing, but only according to God's timing. We wait for guidance. But I want to tell you something. One of the most dangerous things that you as a Christian can do is that when there is no word from God in that guidance for you

to pick out your own path, you never waste time waiting for a word from God. This is so in answer to prayer. Many times God delays the answer to a prayer, and we keep wondering why it is that God hasn't answered. It's a very good prayer. It's a prayer according to the will of God. I've prayed it in faith. I've prayed it according to the name of Jesus. I've done everything I know to do, and yet there is no answer. And so we keep waiting for the answer of God, and it doesn't come according to our schedule. And what do we do? We take matters in their own hands, and we move out. Now, in this matter of God's timing, you and I don't look upon it as timing. We look upon it as a delay. We never see God's timing as timing. We always see it as

delay, and when we're talking about God's timing, we're talking not about God's timing. We're talking about God's negligence. We're talking about God's delay. Why is it that God delays moving into a situation and solving that situation? One of the great American preachers of the past was a man by the name of Philip Brooks one day a friend went into his office and he saw Phillips Brooks angrily pacing back and forth back and forth on his office floor and his friend said dr. Brooks what's the trouble dr. Brooks stopped and he looked at the man with his eyes flashing and he said the trouble the trouble is I'm in a hurry and God isn't.

That's what the trouble is. And that's your trouble, and that's my trouble. I'm in a hurry, but God isn't. And I interpret God's timing as God's delay. And yet over and again you hear the Lord Jesus Christ say, mine hour is not yet come. They tried to stone him, didn't make any difference. Mine hour is not yet come. They tried to stone him. Didn't make any difference.

Mine hour is not yet come. But there came a day when Jesus said, mine hour is come. And then they took him and they crucified him. In the fullness of time, God sent forth his son. God works everything according to a heavenly schedule. And when the Lord Jesus Christ comes, it will be according to his time, when the time of the Gentiles has been fulfilled. Then the Lord Jesus Christ will come and complete the redemption that he started on the cross. There are two notable occasions in the life of Jesus

when he delayed. And I want us to look not only at this incident in Joshua chapter 3 of God's timing, but I want us to look at these other two incidents, and I'll not take the time to read those passages, but I'll just mention them. And I want us to see some things concerning the timing of God this morning. There is that incident in Mark chapter 5 when Jairus comes to the Lord Jesus. His little daughter is lying at the door of death, and he says to Jesus, I want you to come and come quick. This is an emergency situation. They always are. I never do ask God to do anything, but he doesn't need to do it right now. It's always an emergency with emergency with us he says you need to come right now and so immediately Jesus starts for

the home but you remember the story as he's making his way now remember it's a desperate situation it's an emergency situation as he makes his way the great crowd throngs around him and suddenly jesus stops and he says who touched me and his disciples said what do you mean who touched the crowd is pressing around you everybody's touching and jesus said that's not what i mean somebody touched me in order to have virtue come out of me i i have felt healing power go out of my body somebody touched me in faith I want to know who it was that touched me now I have read that story many a time and it wasn't until recently that I tried to step inside the

shoes of that anxious father here is his little girl lying at the point of death it's an emergency situation Jesus you must come quickly and suddenly Jesus stops deliberately stops and tries to figure out who it is that touched him can you imagine what that father must have felt and after a while a woman steps forth from the crowd and she said it it was I I'm the one that touched you I'm wonder if Jairus didn't feel some resentment and bitterness towards her. And Jesus begins to talk to her. And they have a conversation.

And I can't help but imagine that this father, his anxiety is growing and increasing and is practically beside himself. And just about the time Jesus finishes that conversation with the woman and begins to take up the journey, the servant comes and he says, Don't bother the master any longer. The child is dead. Jesus delayed, and in that delay, the girl died.

Jesus said to that father, Don't be afraid. Just keep on believing. Three other instances in John chapter 11, when he receives word from Mary and Martha that Lazarus is sick, and it's a sickness that is severe because they sent for Jesus,

and they would not have done that if they had not feared for his life. And the writer of the Gospels deliberately says that when Jesus heard that he was sick, this Lazarus whom he loved, he delayed going to him. He deliberately stayed right where he was. And his disciples said, Lord, shouldn't we be moving out? Shouldn't we be going?

I mean, here's another emergency situation. And Jesus says something very unusual. In the fourth verse of John 11, he says, When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now, I want to give you a little interesting problem Jesus said this sickness is not on the bed but did Lazarus die every boy and

girl that's ever gone to Sunday school any length of time knows that Lazarus died well Jesus said this sickness is not on the bed but Lazarus did die and he died because Jesus delayed his coming. And both Mary and Martha, when they saw Jesus, they said, Master, if you had been here, this wouldn't have happened. And you know, that's a rebuke. That's a rebuke. Both of them are rebuking Jesus. They're saying, Lord, if you had answered us when we called for you, this would not have happened. And I wonder how many of us here this morning have said that, maybe not in those exact words, but there's been a situation, a difficulty, a sickness, a problem,

maybe with the family, maybe with the business, maybe in our own personal life. And we've prayed and we've begged and we've asked the Lord to come and solve this situation, but he hasn't. He hasn't. And then finally that situation worsens, and everything begins to fall to pieces. And we say, Lord, if you had acted when we asked you to act, if you had answered when we first called, this would not have happened. These two notable occasions where Jesus delayed his coming, and delay meant disaster and death. What do they teach us? I want to share with you just three things,

and I'll just have time to mention them and then let the Holy Spirit apply them. There are three reasons for God's timing. These three things are illustrated in this third chapter of Joshua. They're illustrated in the experience of Jairus with his daughter and they're illustrated in Lazarus and Mary and Martha there are three reasons that God times everything so that it looks as if it's a delay from our viewpoint number one to display our helplessness in a hopeless situation. God's timing is set so that you and I may come to understand without any shadow of a doubt that we are helpless in these situations.

There was not any way the people of Israel could cross the Jordan River there was no bridge they had no boats the river was overflowing its banks they were facing a hopeless situation Jairus daughter was not dead she was merely severely sick but as long as there's life there's hope and as long as that little girl was still alive that father had some vestige, some remnant of hope to cling to. But Jesus waits until all human hope is taken away. And finally, the girl is dead, and there is absolutely no reason for that man to believe

any longer. There's no reason for him to hope any longer. And then Jesus moves in only after that daughter is dead and says, do not be afraid, but just keep on believing. Mary and Martha call Jesus to come now while there's still hope, while there's still something that can be done. And Jesus delays until the situation becomes hopeless to demonstrate to Mary and Martha that there is not anything they can do. You know, I've noticed that in my own life and in the lives of others, corresponding so perfectly and beautifully to the teachings of the Scripture,

that God will often and more often than not will delay his deliverance until the situation gets absolutely hopeless, absolutely hopeless. I never will forget an incident that happened right here at the front about two years ago. One night after service, a young wife came up to me. Her husband was lost, and just a few weeks before, she had begun to understand what it means to intercede for a lost person, and she had started interceding for her husband. And she came up to me one night after the service, and she said,

Brother Don, she said, I think I wish you had never taught me how to pray for my lost husband. I looked at her, and I said, Well, what do you mean by that? She said, Well, I've been praying for him now for two weeks, and ever since I started praying for him, he's gotten worse. He's grown more hostile. He's grown more antagonistic towards the church and towards my going to church than he ever was before. And she said he was better off before I started praying for him. And since I started praying for him, he's gotten worse. That's what Mary and Martha said.

That's what Jairus said. And as I've told you before, listen, on its way to better, it'll drop by worse and visit for a while. And you may as well expect the situation to worsen. Why? What's God waiting for? God is waiting until the situation grows humanly hopeless to demonstrate our absolute helplessness. You see, before God's power can flow through our lives,

you and I must be convinced that only God's power will extricate us from that situation. We've got to be convinced that it's God's power and God's power alone that can solve that dilemma. And so God has to delay, and for him it's not a delay, it's perfect timing. God has to delay his moving into our lives until that situation becomes absolutely hopeless. And so, let me ask you this morning,

is there a difficult situation you've been praying about and it's grown to the point now that there is absolutely no way that it can be solved, then cheer up. God's in control. I don't know what God's doing. I don't know what God's up to. I don't know if God will answer and solve that situation you expect him to or not, but I do know this. God's perfect timing is working out and God's power will flow into your life according to his timing, not according to your timing. All right, the second reason, not only to display to us our own helplessness,

but the second reason that God's timing moves in the way it does is to deepen our faith in a faithful God to deepen our faith in a faithful God in those two experiences in Mark chapter 5 and in John chapter 11 if you'll read them carefully you'll discover that in those two situations Jesus Christ spoke to them at the point of faith. When there was no reason to believe, when the last remnant of hope had been taken from their father, then Jesus said to him, don't be afraid, but just keep on believing. When he came to Mary and Martha, he said, didn't I tell you that if you would only believe, you would see the glory of God?

You see, the one thing that God wants to do for me today is to deepen my trust, to lift my faith to a new level, to a new dimension, to bring me into a broader experience of trusting in God. I think I know how to trust God this morning. I believe I do. And I have known what it how to trust God this morning. I believe I do. And I have known what it was to trust God. But you know what I'm convinced of? I'm convinced I don't know the ABCs of trusting God.

I think I do. I think I've made great progress in faith. But I don't know anything really about trusting God. And what God is up to in my life is to move me into situations and circumstances where like muscles, faith will be exercised, and by being exercised, it will grow and enlarge and become stronger. And your faith must be exercised, and most of us are lazy in faith as we are in some other things. And God has to put us in a situation where we must exercise faith.

And so his timing moves as it does in order to deepen our faith. The last thing is simply this. The delays of God, which are really God's perfect timing, are for the purpose of bringing in a greater way the glory of God to demonstrate in a greater way the glory of God he said to Mary and Martha I told you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God now let me ask you a question. If Jesus had arrived before that little girl died

and would have healed her and raised her to health, that would have been great. If Jesus had arrived before Lazarus succumbed to that disease and died, and if he had laid his hand of healing upon him and raised him up whole, that would have been great. But let me ask you this morning, what brings to God the greater glory, healing a sick man or raising a dead man?

What brings to God the greater glory healing a sick man or raising a dead man what brings to God the greater glory raising a sick child or raising a dead child what brings to God the greater glory leading a people of Israel across a narrow shallow Jordan River are taking the Jordan River and pushing back and making walls out of the water and moving them across. And the Bible says again and again in that third chapter they came across on dry ground, dry ground. What brings God to greater glory?

Well, the answer is obvious. And I want to tell you something. In your life and in my life, God will always, God will always time his deliverance so that he will be glorified the greater for it. This is the reason that God lets the situation get blacker because his glory stands out more clearly and obviously the blacker and the darker the background.

You see, God wants it made certain and clear more clearly and obviously the blacker and the darker the background you see God wants it made certain and clear that it's God who's done it and not we ourselves he wants to make certain that nobody else shares in the glory that God is glorified and this is why the Lord will always take the route that brings him the greater glory and that's what you want anyway, isn't it? Well, I've heard you say it is. Did you mean it? We'll find out if we mean it. It's so easy for us to say it. Lord, all I want is for you to be glorified in my life.

Lord, whatever will bring you the greater glory. You know, it's so easy for us to roll those phrases off of our lips, isn't it? But Jesus said, by your words you shall be justified or condemned. And I have an idea that God moves according to our confession. When I begin confessing like this, Lord, I just want you to be glorified in this situation. He said, all right, we'll see. Because if I move in right now and give you the guidance you want now and give you the answer you want now, and I move in and solve this situation

now, there won't be much glory for that because the situation's not hopeless. He said, I work best in hopeless situations. And so God just backs off. And it seems as though God even helps the devil along sometimes, doesn't it? It seems as though God even sets himself against us. It seems as though God himself arrays all circumstances to be against us. Well, I want to tell you something. He does. He does.

Pursuing that situation until it gets beyond all human health and hope, and then God says, now, there's the time. There's the time. You see, you and I must move according to God's timing, and I want to close with just this one statement. The closer we live to God, the less we will care about times and seasons. The closer we live to God, the deeper our fellowship with our Lord, the less we will care about times and seasons. The flow of God's power, it flows according to God's timing. You say, what's my part?

The hardest part. What's that? Wait on the Lord. I can do anything easier than that. Waiting is the most exhausting work I do. And yet, that's my point. That's my position. If you run ahead of God,

you're going to create new difficulties and endanger your own relationship and hamper the will of God from being perfected in your life. But when you wait for God's timing, you see there is a timing for everything, and I'll tell you how you know whether or not you've gotten ahead of God's timing. When it's God's time, everything flows just smoothly and perfectly and fits into place, and there's no hassle and no confusion and no worry and no unrest. When I get ahead of God, everything seems to be tough and hard. Nothing seems to fit just right, and I have to negotiate and maneuver, and I have to chisel off here have to shape it up here and try to squeeze it to where it fits

just perfectly that's a good sign that I've gotten ahead of God time but when I wait for God's timing those things can be solved without heartbreak without injury and without regret and without remorse don't get ahead of God's time you wait until God opens it clear God will make all things right and it'll be so easy then just to move on in to God's will and keep on God's path of purpose the trouble is I'm in a hurry and God isn't that's my trouble and the solution to that is learning to work according to God's plan of timing

and simply to wait until God is ready let's pray together