One of God’s attributes that intrigues me the most is his timing. God can do miracles, I do not dispute that. But if he can do miracles, then he can do miracles whenever he wants. Why does he choose to wait?
For instance, in Daniel 3, God performed the miracle of protecting his three servants when they were in the furnace of fire. They did not get burned. But God had other options. He could have kept them from going into the furnace in the first place. That would have been a miracle, too. God could have overturned the ruling that sent them there; he could have toppled over the statue that was the catalyst to their conflict. Yes, God had options. Why did God choose to wait until they were in the fire before he rescued them?
It seems like God has a pattern of invading our distress rather than blocking it. When God does a miracle, it’s often when our backs are against the ropes rather than when we’re fresh and standing in the center of the ring.
When God’s three servants were in the furnace, those witnessing the event saw four people walking around. “And the fourth looks like a son of the gods” (Daniel 3:25). As expected, God shows up inside the trial, rather than before it. God chooses to invade our distress, rather than block it.
I think that God often chooses to wait to rescue us because he has something for us to learn about him and experience with him.
No one knows what they talked about inside the furnace. Though I would like to know what God said to the three men, I will never know. It was their special time with God, not mine. God reserved that special moment for them.
God does not rewind your story so that you will not have to go through your trial. That is most often not the miracle that he chooses to do. Instead, God will invade your trial in order to be inside the fire with you. God wants to spend time with you in the fire.
These are special moments with God in the fire. Do not waste them. Just as nobody will ever know what God spoke to the three inside the fire, neither will anyone but you ever know what God wants to say to you inside the fire. This is your special time with him.
Before God rescues us, he wants to stand up in the fire with us.
© 2012 by Samuel Kee
