The Time Of Our Visitation
We Must Recognize God When We Meet Him,
Even If He Doesn’t Look Like We Imagined.
God says,
“For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought;”
Luke 19:43-45
There comes a time in every nation’s history when God draws near. It is a time of visitation and depending on what the people do with that opportunity, so goes their history. Most of the time nations miss the time of their visitation, as Israel did, and suffer unimaginable consequences.
So too, in a lesser way, there are times in our lives when God draws near to us. At that time we are usually at a crossroads where one path leads to blessing and the other leads to destruction. The problem is, often we do not recognize these times and the paths before us seem anything by clear.
Like Simeon, recognize when God passes by
Recently, I witnessed such an event. God came to a believer and it was the time of their visitation. However, like many people, they did not recognize it and therefore missed it. The fork in the road, though very clear in the Spirit, nevertheless, seemed unclear in the natural.
The thing about times of our visitation is that they come unexpectedly. God takes us by surprise because we are not in tune with Him. Like Simeon or Anna in the temple, if we are spiritually aware, we recognize the time of Christ in our lives no matter what he looks like.
God often visits us in a manner that we least expect and we miss Him. Presently, most people miss God because they are gazing up into the sky while He sits next to them in the pew. We are so near Him, yet we cannot see Him because we only see with our natural eyes. The truth is, that our God is often times so near us, we can literally reach out and touch Him.
Don’t miss the time of your visitation
In conclusion, it is imperative that we open our spiritual eyes and ears to see and hear what God is doing, when He is doing it. Usually, once the time of our visitation comes and goes it cannot be regained. When we miss God as He passes by we may not be given such a chance again. For Israel, missing the time of their visitation meant 2000 years of being partially cut off from YHWH. During that time, outside the will of God, they suffered as no other people in the history of the world.
Finally, if God is passing by and you have almost missed your time of visitation, run after Him. Do what is necessary to be with him even if you have to use every last ounce of your strength to do so. The lesson of the pillar of fire and smoke in the wilderness is that you must keep up with God in order to be in His presence and receive his blessings.
Amen.