Is It Time For God To Act?

.
God's Word on God's Timing

"It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law." (Psalm 119: 126 - KJV)

"It is time for you to act, O LORD; your law is being broken." (NIV)

The Pslamist does not ask God if it is time, as though he does not know. To ask such a question suggests that the querist imagines it might be time. But, here it is not a question, if we can accept the common translation of "it is time for you to act O Lord." No, rather than asking God "if" it is "time" for God to "act," he states it as a positive declaration, as being something about which he is confident. "God, IT IS TIME, for you to act!"

This is not to imply that the Psalmist believed that he could "set the time" for the Lord to act, at least not in an absolute sense. It is not the speech of a superior to an inferior, as a boss saying to an employee - "It is time for you to go to work." Nor does this language of the Psalmist imply that God did not know whether it was time for him to act. He was not attempting to inform God as if he controlled God's time clock or work agenda. No, God controlled his clock and agenda, not vice versa.

I think rather that the language is expressive of the fact that something has just been revealed to the Psalmist, the result of what he has just been contemplating. I think it just "dawned on him" that, viewing the present circumstances, viewing the "signs of the times," and knowing something about the history of how God has worked in the past, and knowing something of what he has promised to do in the future, WHEN certain specified conditions and circumstances arise, then it is easy to see how he could say - "It is time!"

I have a strong belief that the latter day saints, those who are here in the days of the Apocalypse, will witness a restoration of divine supernatural activity, and will experience another outpouring of the Holy Spirit, a true "latter day rain," wherein the "charismata" is restored and the effects intended by such a revival of divine activity are realized.

Doubtless it is not God's ordinary working and acting of which the Psalmist speaks, for God was doing that already, regularly and continually, and without interruption. The particular work to which the Psalmist alludes is a work and activity of God that seems to have been previously promised and one that is extraordinary.

In the debate over the "charismata" and the "times of miracle," between the "continuationists" and the "cessationists," the discussion involves the question as to whether the supernatural activity of God in the early church ceased forever.

Among the "continuationists" are those who say this supernatural working of God never ceased but has continued till this hour. On the other hand, some "continuationists" may allow for this absence generally, though perhaps not universally. The supernatural working of God that is being discussed by the Psalmist has to do with some special work of God, long waited for.

This verse from the Psalmist is very appropriate today for Christians to consider. It is a thought that is intimately connected with the "charismata" or the "miraculous gifts" and supernatural goings on among the early Christians of the first century and with the question of whether latter day Christians have any hope of God acting in the same manner again.

I believe the "charismata" did cease to be a vital activity in the church after the first century. The divine activity in this manner came to a seeming halt, although not abruptly.

The reason(s) for this cessation of miraculous gifts, of God's special activity and supernatural working, is not a matter of universal agreement among the "cessationists."

It's Time Lord!

In a nutshell, that is what the Psalmist seems to be saying to the Lord. He knew something of God's time clock, of his agenda. "Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.." (Amos 3: 7 NIV)

Jesus said to his disciples that the Holy Spirit would- "show you things to come." (John 16: 13) And - "Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knows not what his lord does: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you."

John Gill commented on the above Psalm verse:

"The words may be rendered, "it is time to work for the Lord"; so the Septuagint version; to which agrees the Targum, "it is time to do the will of the Lord"; and the Syriac and Arabic versions, "it is time to worship the Lord."

It is proper, in declining times, for good men to bestir themselves and be in action, to attempt the revival of religion, to do all that in them lies to support the cause of God, and to vindicate his honour and glory."

Is the verse saying it is time for God to work and act or time for the Psalmist to work and act?

One does not necessarily exclude the other, however, although I think the common translation is to be preferred - "it is time for you, O God, to act." If it truly becomes God's time to work, to act in an extraordinary way, it will also become time for his servants to act and to work.

I certainly do agree with Dr. Gill. When times of great wickedness abound in the land, then it is time for God's people to increase their spiritual activities. It is time for them to be more fervent in prayer, more active in witnessing and preaching, more desirous of spiritual gifts and "power with God."

Doubtless it was this increase in wickedness in the land that aroused in the Psalmist the belief that indeed the time had come for God to act in a special way to halt the prevailing and growing cancer of sin and rebellion.

"It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for (because) they have made void thy law."

This recalls the prophecy and promise made to Abraham respecting God's future plans to destroy the wicked cities of the plain.

"And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." (Genesis 15: 15,16)

It is affirmed that the impetus or catalyst for initiating the promised future work of God would be the "filling up" of the "iniquity" of the people who are to be adversely affected by this divine work. It is a similar expression to the words of Jesus to the wicked Jews in his day, as a condition to a future divine work of judgment, where he said - "fill up then the measure of your fathers." (Matthew 23: 32)

We, as Christians, and faithful servants and friends of the Lord Jesus Christ, living in the extreme last days of the inter-advent period, and seeing the abounding wickedness, and such evil as was exactly of the kind that should exist just prior to the Lord's commencement of "end time events," ought also to be saying, perhaps, as did the Psalmist, "it is time for you to act, O Lord"!

Perhaps we should be praying as did the early disciples in the Book of Acts, who prayed thusly:

"And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness." (4: 29-31)

Is there no need for such prayers today? Do we not understand what the purpose of such divine supernatural workings of God are intended to accomplish? It is certain to me that if men truly understood the purpose of such special divine workings then they too would see that there are truly yet times coming when the Christian community will have reason to say "It is time for you to work O Lord," and they will themselves begin to do mighty deeds themselves with great zeal, power and authority.

Daniel prophesied that it would be at the extreme end of the last days that the true followers of Jehovah would be severely tempted and tried, heavily persecuted by the forces of evil, and yet it would also be a time when they will "be strong and do exploits."

"...but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits." (Daniel 11: 32)

"High Time"

"And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." (Romans 13: 11)

"High time" carries the idea that something is due to be done, almost overdue. It is sometimes translated as simply "the hour."

"Knowing the time" = knowing what time it is generally.
"Knowing that 'now' it is the "hour" ('high time') = knowing specifically the moment.

Get up! The night is almost fully past and it is high time we got up! We are on the eve of the rising day, and the normal time for getting up is about to pass, and we are in danger of the day arriving and not finding us up and ready!

Recall the lesson from the parable of the "ten virgins" in Matthew 25. Some missed out and were not ready when the time came for the Lord to act.

God sometimes is also viewed as asleep, although "he who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps." (Psalm 121: 4) So, to say to God, "it is time for you to act," is similar to saying, "Lord, it is time for you to rise from sleep," for so it often "seems" as if it is the case with God in his dealings with us, though not actually. Sometimes God seems to leave people alone to themselves, "giving them up" (Romans 1: 24), doing to people as he commanded the eleven tribes to do to the tribe of Ephraim, saying - "leave him alone." (Hosea 4: 17)

We could talk about the many times God may say to us - "It is time for you to act." Or, "why do you call upon me to act when it is you who need to act?" You say it is time for me to act, but is it not time for you to act?

"And Jesus answered them, The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified and exalted." (John 12: 23)

Jesus knew how to read the "signs of the times," understood the nature and character of God his Father, and therefore could know his mind as things transpired, and could also know of his plans and his agenda and timetable.

Is it time for God to act, my Christian friends? Is it time for us to act?