A Christmas ADVENTure 1 of 4 – GOD’S PERFECT TIMING
‘But when the right time came, the time God decided upon, He sent His Son, born of a woman, born as a Jew‘ – Galatians 4:4
Firstly, at around the “same time” that a virgin is pregnant by the Holy Spirit, the decree goes out from Caesar Augustus, the Emperor of Rome that a census should be taken throughout the nation (Luke 2:1).
Now let’s think about this. All the right players, [the cast as it were], had to be in place! Caesar Augustus, Herod the Great, Zechariah and Elizabeth, Joseph, the shepherds, the Magi in Chaldea and of course the principle player, Mary who had to be at the age of being able to conceive and she had to have the seed in her ovary at that precise time that was the right seed to produce the body of Jesus in whom Christ the Son of God would be incarnated into and she had to be a Jewess as the Son of God had to be born a Jew! That’s timing only an Omniscient, Omnipresent and Omnipotent God could work out.
But secondly, the timing also had to be right to ensure Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem “at just the right time!” Because Joseph was a member of David’s line [Luke 2:4] Jesus had to be born and registered in Bethlehem to fulfil prophecy! He couldn’t be born before they arrived in Bethlehem, and he couldn’t be born after the census had been taken. Imagine the logistical headache if humans had to get this kind of timing right? Impossible for man yes, but for God, no! Here we see the miracle of, God’s perfect timing.
God may not act exactly when we want Him to, but He is always on time. I’m still learning to wait for God to act in certain situations! That doesn’t mean I sit back and do nothing. The saying goes: ‘Opportunity knocks!’ However, I don’t think we should just sit and wait for opportunities to knock! We need to get on with life with expectancy, but in that time when the opportunity comes knocking we must open the door to it! Every young Jewish girl would’ve been expecting the Messiah’s arrival and hoping she may be His mother. Mary was going about her daily business when the angel of opportunity came knocking and thankfully she responded positively.
This Christmas time let us synchronise our lives with God’s perfect timing, will, plans and purposes for our lives! Ok, we’ll make a mistake or two, but as we learn to listen and wait, our wills will eventually synchronize with God’s. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says: “He has made everything beautiful in its time”.
Prayer
Heavenly Father God. Thank you for this most wonderful time of year. Thank you that at just the right time, when the conditions were just right and the stage was set for Messiah to be incarnated He was, in your way, in your place and in your time with all the right players in place. Thank you Father that when everything falls into place in your time and by your will, it is then beautiful. The timing for the incarnation was beautiful, and because of it, the one born was, is and will ever be beautiful. Thank you heavenly Father for your beautiful and perfect timing. Amen