I had two conversations on the same day this week. In both conversation I used the same phrase, identical to the words in today’s title, “You don’t know what the Lord is doing until He has done it!” In the last conversation the person I was talking with expressed how the daily news produces anxiety and a curiosity about what the future holds for us. Seriously I said, “It’s only a few years.” Jokingly, somewhat, I continued, “That’s probably what the children of Israel said when Joseph brought them into Egypt during a time of famine.” Then, still trying to bring some humor into the persons day, I said, “I can hear them now! It’s only going to be a few years.” But it turned out to be 430 years! Here is something key: Seventy people went in and a nation, a numerous number of people came out. You don’t know what God is doing until He has done it!
Never fret, friend. God causes all things to work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. While I used the Israelite example in a partially humorous way, there is some truth to be found in that story about Israelites’ stay in captivity. Add on to that the fact that we can go back to Genesis, the first book in the Old Testament, and read about Jesus’ victory over Satan on Calvary in the gospels found in the New Testament. There we can look at the 42 generations that Matthew mentions before Christ appeared. We can get personal, you and me, and we can’t come close to naming the number of times we had to wait on the Lord, yet He was right on time, and we learned. You don’t know what God is doing until He has done it!
God was going something with Moses, way before He sent Him to Pharaoh. God was doing something with a shepherd boy named David before he became a king. Mary and Martha thought Lazarus was surely dead. But the Lord was just waiting for the appropriate time to demonstrate His prerogative to raise a person from the dead and emphasize that if you die in the Lord, yet you shall live. You don’t know what God is doing until He has done it!
The premise can be defended. However, there is nothing to prevent you from looking backwards to see all that the Lord has brought you through and then look upward asking the Lord to give you a glimpse of what He wants you to do. Finally, know that while He may give you some inkling, perhaps through the experiences He provides, while in the meantime while you wait for the “right on time,” He will give you some developing. The fact remains, “You don’t know what God is doing until He has done it.”
Okay, do you need more proof? Well, consider the following passage. It might keep you from giving up hope on the folks who we discount as ever being one to demonstrate faithfulness to the cause of Christ Take the time to read it. It’s Saturday. Don’t wait until tomorrow, Sunday, the day when you go to worship. Right? Be blessed!
“As I was traveling and near Damascus, about noon an intense light from heaven suddenly flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ “I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ “He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, the One you are persecuting! ’Now those who were with me saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of the One who was speaking to me. “Then I said, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ “And the Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything that is assigned for you to do.’ “Since I couldn’t see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus. Someone named Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good reputation with all the Jews residing there, came and stood by me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’ And in that very hour I looked up and saw him. Then he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the sound of His voice. For you will be a witness for Him to all people of what you have seen and heard. And now, why delay? Get up and be baptized and wash away your sins by calling on His name.’ “After I came back to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple complex, I went into a visionary state and saw Him telling me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me!’ “But I said, ‘Lord, they know that in synagogue after synagogue I had those who believed in You imprisoned and beaten. And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I was standing by and approving, and I guarded the clothes of those who killed him.’ “Then He said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ (Acts 22:6-21 Holman Christian Standard Bible)
Committed to the climb,
Mark L. King