I will hasten and not delay
     to obey your commands. — Psalm 119:60 (NIV)

You are not behind. You are right on time.

My mentor’s words took me by surprise. How can she be so sure? 

I feel like a late bloomer in my Christian walk. I didn’t grow up in the church, or read the Bible as a child, or even as a teen. I first heard the gospel in my last year of college. Ever since that moment, I’ve felt out of step with the rest of my peers. I married and started a family years after many of my friends. By the time I started blogging in my fifties, the trend had shifted to podcasting. So often it felt like I showed up late to the party ~ ready to start, just when everyone else was ready to wind things down.

When life doesn’t happen according to our timetables, it’s easy to feel we’ve missed the mark. But I’m learning this comes from looking at time from a human perspective. When we look to the Scriptures, we immediately see God doesn’t experience time the way we do:

A thousand years in your sight
     are like a day that has just gone by,
     or like a watch in the night. (Psalm 90:4 NIV)

Because God experiences time so differently, it’s hard for us to understand His perspective. Since He is not constrained by time, God can freely choose the right time to intervene in our lives ~ which may not always make sense from our human perspective. 

Yet I’ve learned there is a moment when we should always be in synch with God’s timetable:

I will hasten and not delay.
     to obey your commands. (Psalm 119:60 NIV)

Timing can be critical. But never more so than in our obedience to the Lord. The psalmist highlights the importance of immediate obedience. The right time to obey the Lord is always right now. 

Submitting to God’s authority helps us understand His thoughts and ways. And through them we learn to discern His direction for our lives: 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
     and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
     and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV emphasis mine)

The phrase ~ he will make your paths straight ~ carries deep meaning. In essence, God is promising to align our hearts, minds, and actions with His plan for our lives. When we make it a habit to immediately obey God’s direction, He sets us on the right path. 

I’ve come to see the wisdom of my mentor’s words. I’m not running behind ~ I’m right on schedule for God’s plan for my life. Because God has a unique plan for each of us, our timetables will look different. But when we choose to immediately obey His direction, we are never late or early. We are always right on time. 

Lord, it is so easy to feel out of step with life ~ especially when we lean on our own understanding. Help us make a habit of immediately obeying Your direction. As You make our paths straight, we will always be right on time. In Jesus’ name, Amen.