Joshua 8:2 And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.
Timing is Everything
It has occurred to me that part of what makes a problem a problem is the inopportune time at which it comes. Many times when we have a problem, we think, “If this had just happened last week, I could have handled it,” or “If I could put this off for three months then this wouldn’t be a problem.” That is exactly what makes a problem a problem, the poor time at which you are confronted with it. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be a problem. The air conditioning in the car doesn’t work in January; that’s not a problem. The air conditioning doesn’t work in August as I’m driving through Kansas; that is a problem.
Likewise, I was recently reminded that part of what makes any of God’s gifts a gift is timing. So much of what makes the grace of God a benefit in life is the timing in which He gives it. In Joshua 8, right after the rebel Achan died for stealing, it says, “And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land.”
God said, “I have given this to you.” Canaan was not Israel’s to take, nor was it the Canaanites to give. It was God’s. That’s why verse 2 says, “And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst to Jericho… only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves.” In other words, that which Achan had died for a few verses before, God provided for in these verses. The difference was that in the first case, Achan stole what God would have given, and in the second case, God gave His good blessings in His good time.
Timing is everything. In football, the quarterback makes a long pass and throws to a point in the field where there is no receiver. The receiver runs under the ball, and they meet together at the right place.
What I am saying is that a good thing at the wrong time or in the wrong way is a bad thing. Anything worth receiving from God’s hand is worth receiving in God’s timing. We should not just depend upon God for what we receive; we should trust God’s timing to be the timing that works.