It’s all in the Timing

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 Two people are better than one. When two people work together, they get more work done. If one person falls, the other person can reach out to help. But those who are alone when they fall have no one to help them.

I want to tell you today about a good friend of mine. He’s a man with a huge heart, but sadly, he had a body to match. He was eating himself into the grave. Literally, I could see it – I mean, you couldn’t miss it.

Obesity is one of the big killers in our world today, with deaths from heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and cancer growing at an alarming rate. I’m no doctor, but Blind Freddy could see that if my friend kept on down this path, it would end sooner rather than later.

Now, I spent much of my life in obesity too. It’s only in the last five or six years that I’ve figured out what not to eat, in order to be able to manage my weight effectively. And I remember how touchy I was about people commenting on my weight.

So, I just didn’t feel right about saying anything, until one day we were having coffee together and he said, “Berni, you’re a friend. You know me. Tell me the things that you think I could do better in my life.” Well, there it was. There was the invitation.

So, I took the opportunity to talk to him about his weight, as a friend should. It truly was a God moment. For so long I’d wanted to say something. But that day, he asked me, and so I spoke.

So far, he’s lost twenty-two pounds and he’s still on the way to a healthy weight.

Two people are better than one. When two people work together, they get more work done. If one person falls, the other person can reach out to help. But those who are alone when they fall have no one to help them. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10)

Friends are supposed to help one another. But you can’t help someone unless they want to be helped.

We can rush at things like a bull at a gate, but that rarely works out well. If I’d said what I wanted to say, when I wanted to say it, if I’d niggled away at him every time we were together about the muck he was shoving in his mouth, he wouldn’t have listened.

But when we sit back and wait, we discover that God’s timing, I have to tell you, is always perfect! It just is!

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

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