I love how God brings an idea full circle in my head and then asks me to share it. I hope I can do justice to the lesson He’s teaching me.
My Thursday morning Bible Study group just started a Beth Moore study called “Jesus The One and Only”. Our first session included the passage from Galatians 4:4, “but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law…” She talked about how the word “fullness” here means “to make full”. I found it interesting that God wasn’t just passing the time until Jesus would come to bring us salvation, He was filling time. For the Israelites, this meant 400 years of “time” filled with silence from God. The Israelites had taken for granted the voice of God and so He remained silent to bring back a hunger for His Word.
For you and me, our time may be filled with other things. Unfortunately, sometimes we’re so busy with “other things” that we forget to look for the things God wants us to fill our time with. Are we so busy with work and kids that we forget our friends and neighbors? Do we have so many deadlines that we don’t have time to fill our souls with a word from God? At other times, our lives may be filled with pain or disappointments and we can’t see how this would be God’s will for our time here on earth. Maybe we are waiting for something special and nothing ever really seems to fill the time.
“But when the the fullness of time had come…” I realized that God has our points plotted, and when the fullness of time comes we will witness each event, a reconnection with an old friend, the easing of the pain, the long-awaited something. Until then, God is filling our time, are we listening to the lessons we can learn during this time?
Then to really reinforce this idea that had been swirling in my head over the weekend, God had me substitute teaching in a classroom on Monday where the students made timelines. They talked about all the places they had seen timelines, in history books, at a museum, and one student shared that their Spanish teacher had a timeline on the wall of the classroom. Then the students were were tasked with creating their own personal timelines. They plotted the points of their day, labeling them, marking their significance. And I envisioned God surrounded by timelines…one for each of his precious children from birth to death. Points plotted and labeled, significant dates and events marked, each waiting for the fullness of time to be reached. Not one event, not one lesson, not one joy or disappointment will happen until the fullness of time comes.
In all of this, my lesson is…don’t try to rush time! Enjoy the days with surly teenagers for the days of their leaving the nest is already plotted (and will be here way before this mama is ready)! Love every minute with my spouse for there are points already plotted with things to be excited about and things that will bring heartbreak and tears. Be patient in the developing…of children, of careers, of the future- for everything there is a time. And finally, cherish the lessons, the fun ones and the painful ones for these too are plotted on my timeline.
Is there something you are waiting for that will only come in the fullness of time? What can you learn as you wait for that time to come?