“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”” Galatians 4:4-6
Have you ever had a task that seemed to be very challenging and when you began to see some light at the end of the tunnel, you felt a sense of relief that your labors had finally found it to the end? Kind of like finding that last cluster of pieces to a 10,000-piece puzzle. Or, kind of like raising your child in a fallen world full of bad temptations. I recall the countless hours when working on the final horizontal and vertical alignments for the I-80/I-480 interchange in downtown Omaha. There were railroad tracks at the bottom, I-80 mainline with 4 ramps on the next level and I-480 mainline with an additional 4 ramps on the top level. And, it had to be constructed without disrupting the existing traffic movement. It was a stressful point along my journey but would have been a simple task for our Heavenly Father. I spent a thousand hours on a CAD and He could have accomplished the same task with only a blink of His eye or even set it into place by only a word.
Consider that a few weeks ago, we celebrated Christmas. Our Heavenly Father pulled some strings to make that simple, Heavenly plan come to fruition. At just the right moment, precisely as our Triune God had arranged it, entered the Messiah. Micah wrote that it would be in Bethlehem. It was. But the earthly parents, Joseph and Mary were of Nazareth, up in Galilee; not in Bethlehem. Back in their day, those places were miles apart and in those times that distance was days apart. Mary was almost full term in her pregnancy. To get them down south in time required good roads; unheard of prior to the Roman takeover. Romans built roads. And Joseph and Mary certainly needed to be forced to travel and that came about with a required census from Caesar Augustus, that forced Joseph to register in person in the city of his family roots, Bethlehem.
But before a Savior could be born, there also needed to be some natural means of common communication; a familiar tongue that would quickly spread the news since there was no Internet or SAT phones. No problem. Thanks to Alexander the Great, the father of Koine Greek, that language was ripe and ready for rapid dissemination of the gospel message through the pen of the evangelists and apostles from then throughout history.
Thanks to good roads, a decision in Rome, and a bothersome census, it happened in just the right place, at just the right time, with an articulate language as the perfect verbal vehicle. It was a simple plan. A little baby that the world hardly noticed arrived. He was little more than a wisp of lint on the prophetic page, a pawn in the hands of the heavenly Commander of a simple plan from Heaven. Today is the Trinity HOPE International day of prayer for the school feeding programs in Haiti. Please join us in thanking our Heavenly Father for using our time, talents and treasures to further His plan to spread the Holy Gospel throughout Haiti. He has plans for you. He is on your team; every day. He has revealed to us how our journey will end; victory with Jesus!
Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you,
Jay