A young and eager musician was invited to join a jamming session with a band. In his enthusiasm he played every note he possibly could, almost frantically, in his desire to impress. “Whaaaat are you doing!” exclaimed a band member. “Let the music breathe!”

There is an order in music as there is in life. Timing is important. When you learn to read music, there is a sign for “rest” among the notes to be played. The “rest” is an interval of measured silence which brings purpose. The notes produced after the silence are more poignant.

Maybe, like the young musician, there have been times in our lives when we have desperately tried to do everything we know to get out of our circumstances. We have played all the “notes” we ever learnt: that is, prayed, cried, struggled, sought to “do good”, sought to impress man, but all to no avail. We have found ourselves locked into circumstance with no understanding of the territory, even wrongly accusing God, at times, of forsaking us. The truth is; He never has and never will. He is not disappointed in us, He loves us unconditionally. As we walk with the Lord in these times we discover that His loving kindness is sweeter than life itself and independent of whatever circumstance we are in. Our trials are learning curves. Do not allow a stepping stone to become a stumbling block.

There is a rest for the people of God, (Hebrews 4), a God ordained place, where, in the midst of the biggest, and smallest, trials of life we can enter in to that secret place with Him. There we are overshadowed by His hand and discover the truth of God’s word: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusts in Thee,” Isaiah 26:3.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” Timing is so vital to life. If the timing is wrong, chaos results. God is not in time, He is eternal. Time is in God, and I need to be “in God” enjoying His rest among the “ups and downs” of life. We all have been granted a lifespan here on earth, a small window of time. This window can never encompass all of God. He is the alpha and the omega. He always was, is and will be. My finite mind can never grasp fully that He knew me before the creation of the world! His thoughts towards me are too wonderful to comprehend. The Psalmist declared that God’s thoughts towards me cannot be numbered, (Psalm 40:5) thus I am always on His mind. Incredible!

Ecclesiastes 3:9-10 continues “What profit has he that works in that wherein he labours? I have seen the travail that God has given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.” So, our travail has a God permitted purpose, (a divine purpose), for us to be exercised in. It is the trial of our faith where our Heavenly Father seeks to bring forth the image of His beloved Son in our lives. Where we are exercised in our circumstances, we need to recognise the territory is the School of the Spirit where the Father seeks to bring many sons to glory.

At the end of the trial we can discover that, “He has made everything beautiful in His time,Eccls. 3:11, “…also He has set the world in their heart so that no man can find out the work that God makes from the beginning to the end.”

There is an appointed time in God and in the mean time, God is with me working in the travail I want to be delivered from, (v:10). If I allow the “world” to rule my heart, I will continue to have travail, but we are no longer under the old covenant. Under the new covenant, purchased by the shed blood of Christ at Calvary, I have access into the resurrected life of Christ. Jesus is made unto me “wisdom, righteousness and power” – the Indwelling Christ in me enables me to embrace my trials. He carries me through, by His strength and grace, to His glorious victory.

We have different seasons in our little window of time where the Holy Spirit continues to teach us the value of 2 Corinthians 2:14 “Now thanks be to God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place.……NOW, ALWAYS, EVERY PLACE.

Before I was even born or came into time, I was in our Heavenly Father’s thoughts from the creation of the world! If I get this in my spirit, I should never have another problem with the little time slot of my travail. God set the world in our hearts (Eccles 3:11) as the sons of men, but now, every born-again Believer in Christ, as the sons of God, have Jesus in our hearts. His resurrection life in us is the treasure in the earthen vessel, the very DNA of Christ himself.

God wrapped up the whole plan of redemption in Jesus who is made unto us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, 1 Corinthians 1:30 that we might glory in the Lord, (v.31). Let us then seek to enter in to God’s rest, (Hebrews 4). It is vital for the enjoyment of life. It is His life in me, His rest in me. The Source is the life- giver, Jesus Christ. May we daily remind ourselves of God’s deep love for us and encourage ourselves with David’s words:”My times are in Your hand,” Psalm 31:15

To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven. Enjoy the season, enjoy the journey and make sure your divine travelling companion, the Holy Spirit and Guide, is given pre-eminence.