PROPER TIMING

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

If anyone loudly blesses their neighbor early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse.

Proverbs 27:14

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In one of the briefs I deliver to returning Sailors at sea, I simply ask the following question when it comes to the matter of communications:

Is there a bad time to talk about issues?

Of course, the class needs to think for a few moments before answering this. At least they will if they’re wise. For if we really think about it, there are any number of factors that make timing everything when it comes to bringing up matters with someone else.

I know I remember more than a few occasions when I had something important to talk to my boss about but ended up delaying because he wasn’t in the right frame of mind to discuss anything when I went to him. Discernment led me to wait patiently until his mood had changed and he was far more in the right mindset for me to discuss the item with him.

Of course, the same can apply to matters at home, especially when it comes to your partner. There are good times and bad times to bring things up. Those who are prudent always seem to act in perfect timing because they are taking their cues from the Lord who is guiding them through the situation they are dealing with.

That’s really the key, isn’t it? Whether we’re talking about finding the right time to bring up issues or just the right time to do anything, we can only operate with proper timing when we act in accordance with the Lord’s clock. Let’s call it the Lord’s Standard Time or LST.

When you’re in the Lord’s time zone, everything happens at the right time. Nothing is late. Nothing is early. Only right on time because we’re led by an on time Lord who is synchronizing our thoughts, words, and actions with His will and way.

Well, the matter of proper timing was certainly on Solomon’s mind as he wrote his words of wisdom, particularly as we examine this proverb from Proverbs, Chapter 27:

If anyone loudly blesses their neighbor early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse. Proverbs 27:14

Now, what Solomon isn’t saying here is that it’s wrong to bless your neighbor. That would go against the principles in the scriptures that exhort us to love our neighbor and to be there for them when there is a need. We’re to bless our neighbors but what Solomon is getting at is that there’s a right time to do it or we could turn what was meant to be a blessing into a curse.

Let’s say that it’s early on a Saturday morning and my good neighbor Walter from across the street decides it’s a good time to come over into my front yard and yell words of blessing to my wife and me toward our bedroom window. Now, I don’t know about you but Saturday morning is our morning to sleep in a little. I have to get up early six out of seven days a week for work (five days) or church (Sunday). Saturday is the day I want to recharge the batteries.

And so Walter is yelling in my front yard with the best intentions but my wife and I are not exactly feeling blessed as we are awoken from our respective deep sleeps. We are more likely to feel cursed and more than a little cranky having been jostled from our sweet dreams. If only Walter had waited a little later in the day and then just come over to talk and bless us with his fellowship. Things would have been completely different. In this scenario, perhaps if Walter had just been on LST, the outcome would have been completely different.

Friends, the word of God today is giving us a caution, a caution that encourages us to always consider our timing when it comes to what we do in life. Sync yourself up with the Lord’s clock and get into the LST time zone, and you’ll always do everything with proper timing.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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