7-10-2015

        Good Morning All!!

      Galatians 4:4; “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law”

      “When the fullness of time had come:” what on earth does that mean?  It means “at just the right time”.  When you think about your life, whether young or old, how many things happened at just the right time?  Maybe you met your spouse while at college and you took the same class and you met each other.  If you had taken that class at a different time, you might not have met but it was just the right time.  Maybe you were hauling grain to the elevator and you pulled in and there was one truck just leaving the scale so you are able to pull right on.  As you sit there, two or three trucks show up.  As you go to the pit to dump, you see three or four more show up.  By the time you leave the scale empty, there are fourteen or fifteen trucks waiting in line.  You got there at just the right time. 

     Many people question why Jesus lived and died and rose again 2000 years ago.  If you remember the rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar” that was a main question.  The character Judas Iscariot, asks Jesus,” Why did you pick such a backward time and such a strange land?”  But it was just the right time.  The Roman Empire had established peace throughout the region so travel for the spread of Christianity was primed.  Almost all the Roman Empire all spoke Greek so this made communication easier.  The Sanhedrin and the Jewish Council still held power to order Jesus to die and were willing to do it.  It was the time when God determined was the right time.  Some will question, we may wonder as well, but we trust in God, who controls the universe, to do things at just the right time.

     That is a hard idea to swallow sometimes.  How often, when someone dies, do we think that it is just the right time for that person to die?  How often, did we look out the window looking for rain thinking it is too late; it won’t do any good.  How often do we look at all the suffering and pain in the world and even in our own community and maybe even in our own family and home; do we think that God is acting in just the right time.  It is hard to follow this sometimes, our sinful nature clouds our trust and makes us think, the timing is all wrong.  We struggle with “just the right time” when we think of what God is doing.

     Yet just as our verse continues, our struggles begin to see light.  “God sent his Son”; God sent Jesus at just the right time and Jesus comes to you at just the right time.  Sometimes it feels painful; we think we can do everything then wham! We get knocked for a loop and we see our weaknesses, our failures but above all we see God’s strength and power but above all we see His wondrous love.  Even when we think the time is all wrong, God holds us in his loving arms to give us hope, to give us comfort and to give us peace.

 Father of all grace, your mercies are new every day.  We thank you for bringing us into your holy family at just the right time and for the comfort and love we receive at just the right time.  Be with those whom we love who fail to see this as the right time and do not know your love and comfort and live as those who have no hope.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, Amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret