Just The Right Time
Galatians 4:4–5 (NIV)
4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.
By the time of Jesus’ arrival, hundreds of years had passed without word from God. There had been no prophets to proclaim God’s word, the last of which was Malachi in about 450 BC, about the time Nehemiah went to Judea to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. From the Jewish perspective in the early first century AD, God seemed to be absent, or at least silent, as though he had forgotten his people.
Have there been times when it seems like God has forgotten you? You pray, you try to be obedient to his Word, but nothing seems to indicate God is listening or responding to your prayers, nothing seems to be happening, like you are talking to a wall or ceiling? The Apostle Paul reminds us in Galatians 4:4 that Jesus, the Messiah, came at exactly the right time in history.
God does not arbitrarily choose when to act, God knows the exact right time for all his good plans. Perhaps you have been in a season of waiting, wondering where God is in the moment, maybe even to the point of doubting God and his goodness. The season of Advent is a time when we are reminded that even in our waiting for God, we can trust that God will respond in exactly the right timing, just as he did with the arrival of Jesus. Even though it may be difficult to wait, will you continue to trust God in the silence?