Timing Is EVERYTHING

So, as I've been reflecting this week on my "thought for Advent," I've been struck by the absurdity of God's timing. It's striking to me how the Bible refers to the timing of Christ's birth with the phrase "in the fullness of time" (Galatians 4:3; Ephesians 1:10) and yet the carol "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" refers to his arrive as "late in time." Two very different perpectives that I think give a very helpful contrast to the perspective. For God, Christ's arrival happened exactly when it should, exactly when he planned, but for us, as humans, it seemed late.

For thousands of years the Jewish people had lived in expectation of a Messiah. They suffered slavery, wandered around the desert for a while, and then, even when they made it to the Promised Land, they were constantly being conqurered and oppressed, all the while waiting for Messiah to come. Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, God sent Christ at a time when Rome, a stable yet almost completely pluralistic and anti-Christian government was in place. Wouldn't it have been easier to send the Messiah earlier, have him be born in Canaan, where the government of the Israelites had been set up by God in the first place?

And what about all the Jewish people who lived their entire lives, really devoted to God, and looking for a Messiah? Why let them suffer through the oppression the nation endured, all so that Christ could be born in a place and time that seemed to care less that he had come?

Here's the thing that gives me hope as I reflect on this: I love the idea that God's timing is not "late" but "in the fullness." It gives me enormous hope as a I suffer that there is a plan being worked out, invisible to me and the rest of the world, that will be brought to light one day. It also gives me great comfort to know that God sometimes likes to rescue his children from calamity, not always prevent the calamity in the first place. To be sure, there is a lot of things I've been saved from, but it seems like I recognize God's hand more when he sends his saving power in the midst of trials, not necessarily before those trials come.