“Timing is everything.” This phrase can relate to the seizing of an opportunity or the appropriateness of an action or word. We all have certainly benefited from moments when it seemed like we had just the right timing, but we’ve also experienced the disappointment of just missing an opportunity. The same word or action may have completely different results depending on timing. It is in this way that the saying holds true.
Like us, both God and Satan are aware of the importance of timing. In Luke 4:1-12, the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness for the purpose of being tempted by Satan. This temptation happens immediately after Jesus was baptized and the Father calls him his “beloved Son” for those in the crowd to hear (Luke 3:21–22). It was the right time for Jesus to experience a test, as his ministry was beginning and he needed to feel what it was like to rely solely on God for sustenance and protection when facing hostile circumstances.
After Jesus, by the strength of God alone, endured the temptation, Luke writes that Satan departed from Jesus “until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13). While this was not Jesus’s only temptation during his ministry (e.g., Mark 8:33), an “opportune time” seems to have presented itself in Gethsemane when he was betrayed by Judas (Luke 22:53). Satan knew the best opportunity to test Jesus, took his opportunity, and still failed because of the strength of Jesus.
Knowing that Satan continues to wander the earth, seeking the best opportunities to test God’s people (1 Pet 5:8), is a frightening thought. Some of us may feel as though we are in that moment now, constantly being bruised by the world’s circumstances and being taken advantage of by the ruler of it (Jn 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). However, though God is an eternal God who exists outside of time, he knows how to operate within the lives of his people when they experience times of weakness. God knew “the right time” for Jesus to die since people were “still weak” and “ungodly” (Rom 5:6). He knew the ungodly state of man, yet sent Jesus during that time because he knew the spiritual need of humanity.
Further, our God, who “sits on a throne of grace,” provides “timely help” for his people in moments of weakness because of the sympathizing power of Jesus, our perfect high priest (Heb 4:14–16). The phrase “timely help” illustrates God’s knowledge of and attentiveness to his children. He knows his people need “mercy” and “grace,” and he provides it at just the right time. The “timely help” provided by God is one that allows us to “hold fast our confession” (Heb 4:14) and resist Satan (1 Pet 5:9a).
The children of God can take comfort in the fact that, though Satan may know the opportune times to strike in the lives of God’s children, God sympathizes with our weaknesses and knows just the right time to provide us with strength.
Nate Kidwell
Dalraida church of Christ is a congregation of Christians that meet in the mid-town area of Montgomery, Alabama. Our goal and purpose is to seek and follow God and His Word in everything that we do in life.