In Between
Today’s post was written by Braedon Tabor. Check out his website and leave your comments below.
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We’ve heard a lot of bullshit in our days, plenty of people telling us how things will end up. This isn’t just a spouting off about how “the man” has lied to us. This stretches back to the beginning of mankind.
Lots of people heard lots of things about the coming days: “In that day… when this finally happens… in some time, not long from now…”
And those listeners sat. And waited… and waited… and waited… and… for some, the time came.
What was told to them – even promised to them – finally happened and they lived happily ever after (or something like that).
But what about the people who were promised something that never happened in their lifetime? Well, they waited…
and waited…
and…
died.
That’s it.
What about them?
How hard was it for them to hear something they believed in so much, but then never saw happen? (read Hebrews 11:13)
There were hundreds of “prophecies” told throughout the Old Testament about the Coming King, the Son of God, the Christ. From the Patriarch Abraham to Jesus there were roughly 42 generations. So there were hundreds of years between when someone said, “The Son of God will be,” and when Jesus, the Son of God, actually was.
I can guarantee there were some people who heard that, got their asses into gear and were ready to go, only to wait for 40 years to call, “bullshit.”
And I don’t blame them.
There were generations upon generations telling their kids, “In your lifetime, little Tommy, you will get to see the Messiah,” only to have little Tommy pass that “promise” down to his grandchildren.
That sucks. In fact, there are times in Biblical history where the “Word of God” was completely forgotten about until it was dug up out of some old library, dusted off, and then reinstated as the Truth.
I believe Jesus was the fulfillment of all those promises told millennia ago, but how difficult it must have been to be a generation in that period between “Prophecy” and “Fulfillment.”
It took a lot of Faith to say, “I believe and trust God to redeem and save!” The good news is that it happened (and still does).
There have been two millennia since Jesus was a physically present human being on Earth, with generations after generations of people who have chosen to believe that He was the Messiah, the fulfillment of God’s promises.
And I join them in choosing to believe.
There are times we ask God to just show up and be present with no apparent answer. I can understand that this would lead some to call, “bullshit.” But the truth is, I have too much faith.
I choose to believe God is. I choose to believe God speaks now – today. I choose to believe God moves and interacts. And even though I struggle with these sometimes, I choose to join the hundreds of generations that have gone before me in believingthat God fulfills His promises.