Windows of Opportunity

Now Joshua had commanded the people, saying, “You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I say to you, ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout.” (Joshua 6:10 NKJV)


There is a proper window of time to do certain things in order to get maximized results. If a farmer plants grains of corn and goes the third day looking for his harvest, he would only be met with disappointment. He has to wait a few months for the proper time of harvest. Now if the crop ripens and he delays to harvest them at the right time, they will be destroyed in the field and he would have wasted his effort at planting. Now imagine the same farmer, not planting during the planting season but waiting up until harvest season to plant. The same fate would befall the seeds as in the formal scenarios. This underscores the fact that some time calls for delayed action while others call for you to strike while the iron is hot. You have to be discerning to know which is which.

In the text, Joshua told the children of Israel to delay shouting until a particular time, the seventh day, after the seventh march round the walls, when the window of time for shouting will be ripe according to God's instruction. Shouting before or after this window of time would not bring the wall down.

There is a time for everything. Every purpose has a time when it must be carried out. For your life, there are steps to be taken now and others to be taken later. There is a divine sequence of things and there are windows of opportunity that open from time to time which when missed because of insensitivity can add complications and delays to life. You don't want to dig up your seed just after planting and you surely don't want to let them rot because you missed the harvest time.

It was said of the tribe of Issachar that they "... understood the signs of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take." (1 Chronicles 12:32 NLT). This ability to discern the proper times for the steps you need to take in life is available to you too through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He has come to guide you into all truth for your life including the truth of times and seasons. He can help you know when you ought to move and when you ought to stay put; when you need to wait and when you need to act immediately; when you need to be quiet and when you need to shout. He can help you properly discern the timings of God for the needed steps and events of your life. He can order your steps.

Why not ask him today to teach you discernment, and when he leads, follow him. Don't run ahead or lag too far behind. Walk in tune with his timing. Shout when it's shouting time.

Decision of the day

I will pray to God constantly for discernment to know the proper time of things in my life. I will be accurate in timing.