God's Timing

Luke 2:20
Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

These shepherds had had a divine encounter as God had told them and then lead them to the place where Jesus was born. There in that stable, among the smell of dung and urine, with the sound of bleating sheep and the lowing of cattle, they had seen for themselves the Messiah.....The Christ....The deliverer.......
With full hearts and joy beyond description, they left the couple and their newborn son to return to the fields and eventually home, sharing this incredible story with anyone and everyone...and time passed.
Days turned into weeks....
weeks moved slowly toward months.....
Months began to stack up on one another until there was an accumulation of years.....
Do you think maybe that as time passed, those same shepherds looked back to that fateful night and wondered if it truly had happened?
I mean, let's get real here....
We have this wonderful declaration from heaven that the Messiah had been born...it was good news for all men......"Today in the city of David a Savior has been born who is Christ the Lord"....But now it has been thirty years.....30! No evidence was seen as to this salvation that was suppose to come. The baby of the stable turned into a young boy....The boy grew and worked among his family...daily chores....routine after routine....But no evidence of the Messiah anywhere to be found....

In fact things had gotten worse....
The heel of Rome was even stronger on the neck of the nation....
King Herod was bleeding the people with taxes in order to finish the Temple building project....
I wonder at times if those same Shepherds who came to Bethlehem even lived long enough to see Jesus begin his ministry.....Thirty years is a long time.
What I need to remember is that when the declaration of Jesus' birth was made....it was a promise....a promise from God. And God is not slack when it comes to His word. His time is unlike my time.
I look around at situations and circumstances and loose hope....
Yet the Promises and Word of God are "yes" and "amen".....
My Bible states that at some point, Jesus is coming back.....
If I look with my eyes, I don't see much evidence of that....
Death at a small school in Connecticut....
Shootings and killings all over our town and state....
Children abused and beaten....
The list goes on and on.....
Just like on the Judean night long ago when a group of Shepherds was given a promise.....I too receive this promise of the return of Christ....
I hang on to the words of Christ when He declared that "he would never desert us or forsake us"....
I refuse to let the darkness of this world dim the hope and light given to me by God.....
In fact the more I look around at the death and destruction, the tighter I hold on to the promises of God.

Jesus commanded His disciples, in John 14:1..."Let not your heart be troubled...you believe in God, believe also in me." In other words, no matter what is going on around us....hand tight to what is happening inside of us....
It may look like everything is out of control, but rest in the knowledge and assurance that God has not lost His grip.
It may look like God has forgotten His own promises or that His word has lost power...
Hold fast to God and walk at His pace.
He is a God of His word....

Merry Christmas!
God on you....
mb