Immediately… But According to His Timing
By Dean Collins
Immediately happens fast! At least until it doesn’t. I have written about this before, but it is on my mind once again as I pray and ask the Lord to answer my urgent prayers.
I am a little over halfway through the gospel of Mark and on every page, Jesus is doing something immediately. I read that Mark used this word some 41 or 42 times. The other 3 gospel writers altogether used the word just 10 times. Bible scholars have different theories as to the way Mark uses “immediately” so often. I will give you mine.
I think the culprit is Peter. Most scholars agree that Peter is the source material for Mark’s writing. Mark was documenting Peter’s version of the Jesus story; to me that explains a lot. Peter was a guy who seems to like action. You remember some of the things Peter was quick to do?
Jumped out of a boat in a storm to walk to Jesus
Cut off a guy’s ear in the garden when the guards came to arrest Jesus
Told Jesus he couldn’t wash his feet
Went back to fishing pretty quickly after denying Jesus 3 times
Jumped up and suggested building housing for Jesus, Elijah, and Moses at the transfiguration
And, of course, preached the first sermon at Pentecost
Peter was a guy willing to jump in and handle a situation even when he didn’t understand the situation. He seemed to always think he should do something. I won’t say that all men are like Peter, but I will confess that I sometimes, okay often, jump in and try to fix things. And sometimes the speed I move, even in my advancing years, is a little too immediate. Sometimes…maybe all the time, it would be better to pause, to pray, and to wait.
This is something we need to remember when we read scripture. No matter how many times we read it, study it, or hear it taught or preached, we always process it through the lens of our own experience. Peter did this in the stories he told to Mark. He was a guy who acted with urgency, and he wanted the Lord to act with urgency as well.
I am not suggesting that Jesus didn’t do things immediately or that Peter told the stories wrong. When Jesus healed someone, it happened quickly. When Jesus rebuked the Pharisees, he didn’t pull any punches. And when Jesus called his disciples, I think he wanted them to stop what they were doing and obey. Jesus can, and Jesus does, act immediately.
But reading the gospels we also know that Jesus often walked away from things others saw as urgent, and he chose to slow down, spend time with his father, pray, and rest. We will never understand why Jesus seems to solve some things quickly and when and why he chooses to wait or teach us to wait until it is time.
In Mark 4 Jesus told the parable of the Sower. But notice that when Jesus later explained it to his disciples, Mark and/or Peter uses the word immediately three times. Verse 15 of the text says that someone else acted immediately: “And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.” Uh oh! Even when God is working with kindness and immediacy, the enemy acts quickly to interrupt his work. And if we aren’t careful and prayed up, we might just fall for the traps the enemy sets. The scripture says that Satan came to steal and destroy.
As Jesus continued his explanation, he said that sometimes people hear the gospel message and immediately respond but do not take time to allow the seed to grow deep inside of them. Just like gardening takes soil, sunshine, and water we know that it also takes time for the fruit to appear. We must daily allow our roots to grow deeper into the richness of the soil of our hearts.
Later in Peter’s life he seemed to have a clearer view of how God’s time works. In 1 Peter 3 he quotes Psalm 90: “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day”. None of us want God to wait a thousand years to solve our urgent or immediate problem! But Peter assured us that God is not slow in keeping his promises.
God has delivered on his promise to reconcile us to himself. The work of Jesus on the cross is finished, and anyone can access God’s wonderful grace and mercy and receive forgiveness and restoration immediately!
But we also must remember that God is working immediately in our situations even when we don’t see it, and we have to wait for it. And one day we will see everything resolved according to God’s perfect plans for us and for all of his creation.
Father, we confess that we often, even always, want you to act quickly. Grant us patience to know that you are active even when we don’t see it and that you are working a plan that is bigger than we can imagine. So today we surrender to your perfect plans and your perfect timing for our needs to be met. In Jesus name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
Mark 4:1-9, 13-20; 2 Peter 3:8-10 ESV
Photo by Pexels
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