Trying to understand the timing of God is the most baffling thing we can ever encounter in our Christian walk. He works to a clock different from that of the world. Apostle Peter in his letter (2 Peter 3:8) wrote that “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day”.

There was an old couple, Zacharias and Elizabeth who sought God for many years to bless them with a child. They had passed the age of child-bearing and had resigned themselves to the fate that God intended Elizabeth to be barren. Out of the blue, God sent an angel to Zacharias to announce the good news that they would be blessed with a son. Poor Zacharias – anyone could have knocked him down with a feather at the moment he heard the news! Unable to take it, he exposed his unbelief and even lost his power of speech. From the couple’s point of view, it was too late but for God it was perfect timing. God turned up at a time they least expected (Luke 1:5-22).

Six months later, God surprised a young virgin called Mary who had just been engaged to a man named Joseph and spoilt the wedding plans of the couple. Mary would not have even thought of bearing a child at that time, but God sent word through an angel that she would conceive by the shadowing of the Holy Spirit and bear a Son. Mary, Joseph, the entire household, the neighbourhood and the whole of Israel were flabbergasted, but to God it was perfect timing. . God turned up at a time they least expected (Luke 1:26-35).

It was God’s plan to send John the Baptist as a forerunner to Jesus Christ the Messiah, but the world could not comprehend His method or His timing.

Thought for the day: Right through the Bible, it appears that God’s timing is awry, but He always had the last laugh!