We’re hyper-aware of time, maybe more than at any other point in history. Much of work and school is carefully regulated by segments of time. We know and count down just how many minutes per side we grill a steak to medium rare. Olympic races are won or lost over 1/100th of a second.
Some would say we’re overly governed by time, and they might have a point to some extent. But the right time, the “set time” as Galatians, chapter 4, puts it, does matter in God’s kingdom.
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. (Galatians 4:4-5)
God in his omniscience and wisdom knows when things need to happen, and in his grace he brings them about in perfect timing. Jesus could have arrived at any moment in history. God followed his “set time” to have him be born to redeem us.
The trouble is, we don’t know God’s times, and that’s what makes it tough! We’re not let in on the planning of world history, or even our own lives. Our patience wears thin when we’re praying for a loved one to change his or her ways. We get frustrated if our work environment isn’t as we’d like it to be. We find it difficult to slowly grow in faith through the Word and the Spirit.
So what do we do? We wait patiently and trust! There’s no use fretting over timetables we can’t know or control, is there?
Our final “time” in this world is also in God’s hands. God’s Son redeemed us and adopted us. So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. (Galatians 4:7) It was God’s plan to bring us into his family through Jesus, and it is also his plan for us to see our inheritance of heaven.
Trust God’s times! If God knows, that’s enough for us.