God’s redemption plan took time.
The redemption didn’t take place immediately following the curse.
Mankind had to wait.
The plan for redemption wasn’t even mentioned until God revealed a piece to Abram when he was promised kings would come from his lineage and that all nations would be blessed through him.
Still, mankind had to wait.
The coming redeemer was prophesied throughout the Psalms and prophets.
Still, mankind had to wait.
Then the prophesying ceased, and the people of Israel spent the next 400 years without hearing from God with no Redeemer in sight.
400 years of silence and waiting.
400 years of yearning and longing.
And then an angel appeared to a young woman, and the redemption plan was moving forward.
“But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” Matthew 2:30-33 NIV
Yet even after the miraculous announcement that it was time for the Redeemer to come, Mary had a normal length pregnancy. No overnight miracle here. Instead, the normal nine long months of growing, stretching, waiting.
For that is what happens in the waiting—we are stretched and grow beyond what seems possible.
Even in the waiting, we can rest assured, God’s plan is at work. When it seems as if no progress is being made, the action is happening behind the scenes.
But keep watch, for the plan may just come to fulfillment when we least expect it and in a way we least expect it.
