By Dr. Denis L. Salgado
My 8-year-old daughter Stella has been doing gymnastics for a while now. She likes it. We like it too because it helps her develop balance and focus! I love to take her to gymnastics and watch her do all sorts of tricks, from cartwheels to handstands and flips on the floor, beams, and bars. Several months ago, she was promoted to Level 2. This means she had fulfilled the requirements of Level 1, learning and executing the movements correctly. So now the appropriate time came for her to be challenged in different ways by learning new skills. And the instructors know exactly when it is appropriate to move gymnasts up to the next level.
The key is time.
And that is true in many other areas of life too, right? I sure hope the pilot on the airplane transporting me at 40,000 feet has fulfilled the minimum number of hours to fly commercial planes, which is 1,500 hours. A pregnant woman wants to fulfill her gestation period, so her child is born at the appropriate time, not prematurely.
Did you know that the timing of our Savior’s birth was no coincidence either? In the liturgy of the Byzantine Church, the Greek lectionaries assign Galatians 4:4–7 for Christmas Day. We read the following in this passage:
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
More than 2,000 years separated God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 and the birth of his descendant who would bless the whole world. This means that it took more than two millennia for God’s requirements to be fulfilled.
Why wait so long? Why not send the Son right away?
We simply don’t know. What we can know for sure is that when the time was right, on the date set by the Father (v. 2), God sent his Son.
In his infinite and unfathomable wisdom, God develops his plans at the perfect time. He not only knows but even orchestrates all the circumstances that must unfold before he realizes his sovereign purpose.
And look at the result: God sends his Son Jesus Christ to redeem us from the guilt that comes from violating God’s law, and the Spirit of God introduces us into the family of God. In a marvelous display of Trinitarian power and love, we go from criminals to intimate sons and daughters of God.
I’m sure we all have spent some hours, days, or even years in God’s waiting room and realized that God’s timing is not necessarily our timing. And waiting is no fun (I know that from experience!). But waiting provides us with the sometimes agonizing and yet profound opportunity to grow in our dependence on the Lord and to cling to him even more. And when God decides the time is right, we will relish even more in his goodness.
What are you waiting for these days?
At CSNTM, we constantly wait upon the Lord to provide all we need so we can move forward with our mission. It’s encouraging and humbling to see how our Father takes care of us by using his children around the world.
As we wait, we find hope in the overwhelming truth that God does nothing prematurely. Let me encourage you to find hope in this truth as well during your own time of waiting.
Our Instructor knows exactly the right time to act on our behalf. And he is never wrong.
How about reflecting on this truth this Christmas?