God works with perfect timing in many different ways, timing that often involves years of divine preparation. We see how God’s timing was at work in the conversion of Cornelius (Acts 10). He sent an angel to speak to Cornelius and tell him to send for Peter. Twenty-one hours later, with the men sent by Cornelius already en route from Caesarea to Joppa, God gave Peter a vision which would shake his Jewish principles to the core. While Peter was praying and seeing his vision, the men from Cornelius were approaching the city. While Peter was perplexed about the meaning of what he had seen, they arrived at the house. While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit told him the men were looking for him and to go with them without hesitation. When Peter went down and introduced himself to them, they explained the purpose of their visit to him. All of this was divine preparation to persuade Peter that he should not call unclean anything God had called clean (Acts 10:28) so that he would be willing to go and preach the gospel to Cornelius, a Roman centurion and a Gentile.
Often, it’s this timing and set of apparent ‘coincidences’ which help us to see God’s plan being outworked. In my own life, I see how God put different people in my path at different times to lead me to Him, preparing my heart, using my life experiences and background to bring me to faith. Circumstances and people may well seem random to us at times, but in God’s great tapestry, the strands are woven together to produce a picture that makes perfect sense. Every now and again, as in this story, the veil is lifted back so we can see how those strands are being woven together and we marvel at the intricacy and majesty involved. We who are bound by the linear progression of time sometimes find this hard to accept, but nothing is too difficult for God.
God is still working in divine preparation to bring people to Him. Could you be the next link in the chain?
