October 17, 2018

Galatians 4:4 is part of a discussion concerning the coming of Jesus to fulfill the law and to be revealed as Savior. These words caught my attention, “But when the time had fully come, God sent His son.” I believe this could be paraphrased to read, “When God was ready.”

Most of the Old Testament writers were focused on a future when Messiah would come. When they kept their thoughts on this, their life reflected holiness and there was peace. When they lost sight of this hope, life went from bad to worse and discipline followed – God’s gracious way of bringing people back to Him.

The situation could be summarized as human lack of patience. The problem goes all the way back to Adam and Eve when they were impatient with doing life God’s way and followed the counterfeit god, Satan. It is as current as the last time we had the opportunity to wait for God’s direction but moved ahead without it.

This gets very practical when we consider our day-to-day experiences. Young people want to enjoy pleasure and success, and God says, “Make choices consistent with purity and you will enjoy both pleasure and success – but it will come when I am ready.” His timing may not be our timing.

We know God loves us and wants us to enjoy life, so we pray for healing and then get discouraged when it does not come. God says, “I will heal you when I am ready – and it may not be healing on Planet Earth but rather in Heaven.” His fullness of time may be different from what we think it should be.

I wonder how many situations that trouble us would experience peace if we could submit to God’s “when I am ready.” Parents do this with children all the time, but when Creator God deals us this answer, it is sometimes hard to accept.

In a world that is filled with hurt and hatred, we could wonder if God really does have a plan. We can be assured that He does. He will bring His will to completion when He is ready, and everyone will know that this is Creator God at work.

Pastor Bill Ehmann