Wait a Minute!

Sometimes the will of a God might mean waiting. I know, I don’t like it either. Nonetheless, I want to remind you, that you can’t trust the timing of God. This year, like always, in reflection of Christmas, I’m reading the accounts recorded in the gospels that tell us the stories of the birth of Christ. While reading these accounts, a few things have stuck out to me, surrounding the birth of Christ:

1. The timing of God reveals there is a “due season” that reveals the purpose of the thing God has promised.

2. When you “trust” the timing of God, it will give you peace, while the will of God is working behind the scenes, waiting to be revealed.

3. If the thing you desire to see happen doesn’t happen in your time frame, believe God knows all things and sees all things and He will bring it to pass at the exact and perfect time.

Most theologians believe it was somewhere around 400 years between the prophecy of the promised child to be born and the appearance of the Angel declaring to the Virgin Mary that she would bring forth a son that would be that promised Messiah. That’s a long wait, waiting for a promise to be fulfilled. But what this tells me is that even the arrival of God in the flesh, had a due season. In the gospel accounts that record the story of the Christ child, we see the timing of God being revealed in a sequence of events that unfold, bringing the promise to pass. It also demonstrates the trust it took for Mary and Joseph and Elizabeth and Zacharias to surrender, obey or believe that what was happening, was of God.

The appearing of the Angel declaring the promise of God. Mary had to trust the Angel of the Lord that she would miraculously conceive the promised child. The doubts the Joseph must have been experiencing when the Angel of the Lord showed up to him, declaring that that child in his fiancée’s womb was conceived of the Holy Spirit. Joseph had to trust the Angel of the Lord when declared the child in Mary was born of the Holy Spirit. There were many scenarios that required trust. Joseph had to trust Mary. Mary had to trust herself. Their friends and family had to trust them both. They all had to trust the Lord. There was also the census which led them to Bethlehem, the city of David, and the flight to Egypt which led them to Nazareth. They had to trust the timing of their journey, that had to trust that God was leading them in a timely manner to where they needed to be, when they needed to be there.

In Matthew’s gospel in regards to the birth of Christ, he starts with the genealogy of Jesus. John declares that Jesus was the word that became flesh and dwelt among us. Mark say that Jesus is that Son and John will declare his way and writes of John the declarer and Baptizer. In the gospel of Luke he addresses the beginning of his writing to Theophilus and states that he will give an accurate and detailed account of this event. He begins with the story of Elizabeth and Zacharias, the parents of John the Baptist. They had been faithful in serving God and had prayed believing God for a child. They had waited so long that Elizabeth was now beyond child bearing years. Zacharias was in the temple when the Angel of the Lord showed up and said the Lord has heard your prayer and Elizabeth will bear a child. Zacharias and Elizabeth had to trust the angel of the Lord, and they had to trust the timing of God.

Don’t despise a divine delay. Elizabeth and Zacharias had believed God for a child for so long, their dreamed had died. In the natural, they were beyond child bearing years, but in the supernatural, God made her womb awaken and she gave birth to what they had believed for! The purpose of God will be fulfilled in God’s time. John the Baptist had a purpose. It was prophesied that He would be the forerunner of Christ and that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit in the womb. When Mary entered the house, John leaped in Elizabeth’s womb. You can trust the timing of God, because He sees what you can’t see and He knows what you don’t know. If Elizabeth and Zacharias would have had John the Baptist when they wanted a child, he would have been born out of season. He would have been an adult when Jesus was born. Instead, he was a baby in the womb of Elizabeth and leaped while being filled with the Holy Spirit.

The story of Mary and Joseph and Zacharias and Elizabeth are encouraging because they remind us that while we are waiting, God is working! As a matter of fact, it was when the angel of the Lord revealed to Mary that her relative Elizabeth was with child, that it encouraged Mary to trust the Lord and say, “nevertheless Lord at your word may it be so.” Here’s the passage that shows us with God all things are possible and that we too, can trust the timing of God.

“Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” And the angel answered and said to her, “ The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.” Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.” -Luke‬ ‭1:26-38‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

What does this tell us…

– You can trust God with your future that may be uncertain, difficult, or unknown.

– You can trust God when you’re faced with an inconvenience.

– You can trust God when things don’t make sense.

– You can trust God when others don’t understand.

– You can trust God when He shows up unexpectedly and surprises you.

… What do you need to trust God with today?