Food at the proper time

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time?" (Mt24:45 ESV)

Matthew wrote last week about The Right Time. It is a word that has stuck with me — not only knowing the right thing to do, but also having the wisdom from the Spirit to discern the right time to do it.

This morning as I was meditating on the Word, the verse above jumped out at me in the same light. The faithful servant in God's house is not just the one who provides good food for the household to eat, but one who gives it at the proper time.

Ecclesiastes says "He [God] has made everything beautiful in its time" (Ecc 3:11 ESV). The implication is obviously that there are things which are good, but that can be less than what they should be, because they are not yet in their proper time (or past their proper time).

I have taken this onboard as a challenge from the Lord, as one who preaches and prophesies in the house of God, to make sure that what I bring is not just "a good word", good spiritual food from the Lord, but that it is a word given at its proper time. This means not bringing a word before it is ready, and not bringing a word that is no longer fresh.

For many of us, the greatest challenge is just getting us to the place where we have the confidence that what we have stirring within us is good food from the Lord that we need to share with others. But beyond that, I believe, there is a place that God wants us to get to where we also recognise the right timings in his Spirit. That we do not just rush to the front, because we have something, anything, from the Lord, but because we recognise the time is right to bring what has been stirring within us. Linking in with what I shared about No one to be empty-handed; it is the difference between coming with nothing and then grasping for something to bring, and bringing it as soon as you get it, and coming with something already prepared to offer, and seeking God for the right time to bring it.

It takes us from sharing because "I have something to say", to sharing because "this is something for the body, now."