Meanwhile….
November 24, 2013
A couple of years ago I posted a blog about the word “hitherto”. It’s hard to say how many times that particular (and rather archaic word) has come back to my mind.
This week I’ve been pondering another word. It may or may not be found in Scripture – I didn’t check – but God works according to this word all through His Word. The word? “Meanwhile…”
What brought this word to my mind and heart and then my journal was the culmination of studying Kings and Prophets with a Precepts group here in TN. For the first time in my life I can say I finally have a grip on the history of Israel. Okay, it’s a loose grip but at least I know the overall story of how the children of Israel strayed, how the kingdoms split North and South and how eventually almost everyone ended up in captivity to the Assyrians or the Babylonions. If you want to follow that trail, read 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles and be sure to throw in some chapters from Jeremiah, Isaiah, Hosea and Micah. Whew!
With all that in place, one of my devotions this week came from the book of Daniel. It hit me as I read the first chapter that the words could have been: “Meanwhile, back at the palace…” See Daniel was one of those captives I had just studied about! While Daniel was being groomed for the King’s service (and would someday be famous for bunking with lions) all sorts of chaos was going on down in Judah.
Since I’ve read the rest of the story, so to speak, I also thought about a young Jewish girl who would arrive on the scene many years later. A young girl who would be Queen (Esther) and save an entire nation. When it all looked hopeless and time after time it did – God had been working behind the scenes in the “Meanwhile”.
Meanwhile is like the word “hitherto”. No matter what is going with me personally or around me, God is busy in other places, intervening in lives that will someday intersect mine. He’s also working in and out of my heart so I can have an impact on others.
The Bible is vast in scope but intricate in detail. Our lives are exactly the same way. We just can’t see with our human eyes God’s “meanwhile”.
This week is Thanksgiving and all around us people will be naming blessings galore. That’s great and we should be thankful. But if you find yourself with an empty place in your life, an unanswered prayer, a sadness that causes your heart to drop, maybe you can find hope in the word “meanwhile”. While you are waiting and feeling a bit less than blessed, think about how God is at work, in ways you can’t imagine just for you. Someday you will say, “Back in 2013, I thought all was lost. Meanwhile, God was planning something I never dreamed could happen. Praise His name.” (ct)
“For from the days of old, they have not heard nor perceived by ear, nor has seen a God besides you, who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.” Isaiah 64:4