10202024 Fulness of Time

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of the God with perfect timing. He is never late. Nor is He ever early.

In recent weeks I have been pondering the ideas of His return and of His redemption of this earth. I have wondered how much more this earth can withstand. How much more can the nations and the peoples of the earth absorb? How much longer must Christians vex our righteous souls “with the filthy conversation of the wicked” (II Peter 2:7)? Indeed, how much longer can God Himself look on this perverse and sin-cursed earth?

Is there any Bible precedent for the longsuffering of God? What immediately came to my mind was the nation of Israel. To use just a few Bible words, that nation was stiff-necked, rebellious, idolatrous, and adulterous. They went from bad to worse, and then found even more extreme levels of bad. God was so grieved with them that He no longer even found pleasure in their (empty) worship.

Yet He waited. “Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the LORD; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear” (II Chronicles 24:19). “Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them” (Jeremiah 7:25). “But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people” (Romans 10:21).

Who would have thought that God would have been so longsuffering with Israel, when they constantly rejected His messages, killed His prophets, and plunged into deeper sin? Finally, God brought His judgment, but it was a long time coming because of God’s great love for those people. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under his wings, and ye would not!” (Luke 13:34).

This provides us with an apt picture of our world today. Yes, the wickedness is great. It is an offense to God. In this day of technology and global communication, God has made known His message to this world to an extent that is probably unprecedented. Yet people reject His message and plunge into greater wickedness. Why does God delay His judgment? Again, it is because of His great love. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (II Peter 3:8).

God has waited perhaps longer than we can believe, longer than we would think possible. When will it be enough? When will He return? God’s timing will be what it always has been: “when the fulness of the time was come” (Galatians 4:4). In fact, our current time in history is a delay in the widespread redemption of the Jews, “until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Romans 11:25). God will set things in motion in the fulness of time, just as He always has. God has reasons for delaying, just as He has reasons for acting, and His timing is always right.

Just as this is true on the broad scale of world events, so it is true on the narrow scale of individual lives. I have been reminded of this recently, as we wait for the homegoing of my mom. We thought last Saturday was going to be the day, but just as God has done during multiple emergencies in the past, He chose to extend her life. This time He did it in a way that was both simple and amazing to me. I listed 16 factors, including timing of phone calls, people’s plans for the day, cell phone outages, prompted memory, and so on – a combination of seeming coincidences and even irregularities – that God used to spare her life once again.

This left me with a sense of comfort and confidence in God. If God can orchestrate all of that to keep her alive when He so chooses, then I have no doubt of His ability to continue keeping her alive for as long as He chooses, even when circumstances would seem to fight against it. The opposite is also true. When the time comes that God does take her home, it will be just as deliberate on His part. His restraint from doing those amazing factors will be purposeful. It will certainly not be because He CAN’T do them again. He has repeatedly and wonderfully demonstrated His ability. Rather, it will be because He chooses not to, because on this small scale, the fulness of time has come.

In whatever situations you might be facing, the same is true for you. “Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear” (Isaiah 59:1). God’s ability is not in question. What we don’t always know are His timing or His purposes. But what we do know, and can find comfort in, is that He does have purposes, and that in matters both global and personal, He will achieve those purposes in the fulness of His good time.

I pray that this week you can trust Him, with comfort and confidence, to work out His plans for you in His time. He can do it, and He will. May You rest in His care.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA