HOW THINGS GET LOST (7) – WRONG TIMING 

That Sunday, I sat in the car outside the church hall. I saw her walk out of her evening fellowship meeting accompanied by one of the brothers in their fellowship. My heart skipped, and I was wondering if I was not being too slow. Thoughts like, “What if someone else asks her out before me?” I wanted to go ahead and speak my mind that evening. 

Then I had a restrain. The Holy Spirit said to hold on. I calmed down and drove home. I asked her out exactly a week later. After Irewamiri said “Yes,” I knew why the Holy Spirit had asked me to hold on- He was still making His own moves on my heart that I would have affected terribly.  

The Holy Spirit used that week to put positive thoughts of me in her mind. If I had gone earlier, I would have received the proverbial six-inch nail called a “Huge Capital No”! What a mighty God we serve! 

That same week, a dear brother said to me, “Pastor Temi, the same Lord who told you that she is the one will tell you when to ask her out.”

It is an operation of wisdom to understand timing. 

Ecclesiastes 8:5b-6 ICB

[5] A wise man knows how to do the right thing at the right time. [6] And there is a right time and a right way for everything. Yet people often have many troubles.

We miss out on a lot when we lack an understanding of the proper timing. Jerusalem, as a city, lost an encounter in history because they lacked awareness of timing. 

Luke 19:41-44 NKJV

[41] Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, [42] saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. [43] For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, [44] and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” 

There are relationships that should have ended in marriage, but the brother was too excited. If he had just waited for the Holy Spirit, he would not have lost that sister. 

There are businesses that suffered huge losses because they made a move at the wrong time. 

If a farmer sows his seed at the wrong time, the consequences are dire. 

Ask the Lord today for the wisdom to discern times and seasons. Those who master this become a wonder to many. 

Miraculously, if you have lost certain things because of the foolishness of wrong timing, there is such a thing called “redeeming the times.” The only one who can do it is the Lord God. He prophesied through Joel: 

Joel 2:25-26 KJV

[25] And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. [26] And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. 

May this be your testimony!