“Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews; but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples.”
John 11:54
Dying before your time can mean losing fervor for spiritual things, physical exhaustion leading to death, or mistakes that causes your destiny to die before it is properly born. This can be a result of running faster — or even slower — than God. That is, doing the right things at the wrong time.
In our passage, Jesus withdrew from the public and continued His ministry in another city because there was a plot to kill him. This didn’t mean that He stopped doing the Father’s business; however, He knew it was not yet His time to die. Dear believer, the only way to know the right time to do the right things is by listening to the Holy Spirit. Do not do in zeal what the Holy Spirit has not said it is time for — you may have to lean on your own strength instead of His Grace.
If Jesus had died when it was not yet His time, He wouldn’t have fulfilled prophecy, and He wouldn’t have had the strength to go through His crucifixion (Luke 22:43). Continue with your ten until God Himself shows you to thousands. Hide yourself until God says it’s time, lest you lose what is most precious.
Charge: Don’t show yourself when it’s time to hide. Don’t hide when it’s time to be out there.
Further Study: John 7:1-8, Ecclesiastes 3:1.
