@FirstChurchofJerusalem
Today's Early Church Wisdom
“For the Gentiles, hearing from our mouth the words of God, are impressed by their beauty and greatness: then, learning that our works are not worthy of the things we say, they turn to railing, saying that it is some deceitful tale. For when they hear from us that God says: ‘No thanks will be due to you, if ye love only those who love you; but thanks will be due to you, if ye love your enemies and those that hate you’—when they hear this, they are impressed by the overplus of goodness: but when they see that we do not love, not only those who hate us, but even those who love us, they laugh at us, and the Name is blasphemed.”
~ The 2nd Epistle of Clement (140-160AD)
This week's Psalm is Psalm 31 'My Rock, My Shield, My Song'

Trust God’s Timing

There may be times when it seems to us that God’s response is too slow, but at such times we must remind ourselves of the fact that He is in a very different position to us when it comes to deciding what is best for His mission to fully restore the earth and its people. When we look a little more closely at this difference, we begin to develop understanding. Because He is omniscient (all-knowing) God’s schedule is implemented in line with every salient fact, whereas our time management is shaped by a limited data set, for however great our knowledge, it will always be incomplete. Knowing this helps us to recognise that God’s timeframe will often differ from ours. Timeframes are informed by knowledge. What we know shapes what we do, and God knows best. As Oral Roberts once said in relation to situations that we do not understand, including seeming defeats, deaths, and disasters: “God knows something we don’t know.” If we are wise, we will choose to trust God’s timeframe, for as the apostle Peter writes, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). When God seems slow, remember that His timing is always perfect, and it is always driven by His heart’s desire that all will be saved. 