When Timing Is Everything

“Timing is everything”. That’s an old saying. Is it true? Not in the absolute sense. It is hyperbolic. Timing is not everything, but it can often be so important that everything else ceases to matter. For example, maybe you need to say something to your spouse and maybe you do and maybe you say exactly the right thing. BUT, maybe you picked the WRONG TIME!!!

So, are you starting to understand that, sometimes, TIMING is everything!

This relates to last week’s post, of course, about how much truth is relative in nature. Some things are absolutely true but most truth is relative.

A country song from the 70’s comes to mind. Kenny Rodgers had a lot of hits back in those days and one of the big ones was his famous ballot of Tommy Spencer, the ‘Coward of the County’ (The song even inspired a movie!). You may recall, if you are old enough, that the song contains two truths that at first glance seem to be contradictory but really aren’t. Rather it is a matter of circumstance or timing. When Tommy was 10 years old, just before dying in prison his father made him promise he would walk away from trouble when he could because of this truth – “You don’t have to fight to be a man”. Many years later, as a full grown man, Tommy finds himself in a situation that none of us would want to be in and ends up speaking this truth back to his father’s memory – “Sometimes you have to fight when you’re a man.”

I’m not a huge country music fan, but like a lot of others, I’m a sucker for a good story song for sure. And whether we agree with the logic of the situation and Tommy’s response, the point is still made and the point is valid - SOMETIMES you have to fight when you’re a man.

Another song comes to mind, and this one is not taken from someone’s imagination. It is actually taken from Scripture:

1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

I know that some people would say there is never a time when war is right or that hate is right. While I respect why they feel that way, I sadly disagree. As much as I wish it were not so, there is a time for hate and a time when we must fight. There is even a ‘time to kill’ as well as a ‘time to heal’.

If you’re still struggling to understand how this works, here is one of the best examples of relative truth that I have ever seen. Take a look at this passage:

“Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself.”
Proverbs 26:4


Now, take a look at the verse which immediately follows it:

“Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.”
Prov 26:5

Skeptics, of course, would simply say that this is typical of how the Bible contradicts itself. If that were so, however, the person who was collecting these wise sayings and putting them together would have had to have a squash for a brain.

So, how are we to view this apparent discrepancy? Quite simply like this - SOMETIMES it is best not to answer a fool, and SOMETIMES it is imperative to do so.

And this is instructive as we study the wisdom literature and particularly the book of Proverbs because proverbs are by nature ‘relative truths’. The exception is where they refer directly to God who does not change (I refer you to my previous post on September 21st). So, for example, Proverbs 3:5,6 where it promises that God will lead us as we trust Him is absolutely true. But where the proverbs address life in this ever-changing world, it’s all relative. Let the wise man take heed:

“If a man loudly blesses his neighbor early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse.”
Prov 27:14

Sometimes, timing is everything!