May 19 I Wednesday

1 Chronicles 7-9

John 6:22-44

“Son though He was, He learned obedience from what He suffered and, once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him....”   —Hebrews 5:8-9

Luke was a meticulous historian. Of all the Gospel writers, he was the only one who gives us Jesus’s age, and he did so three times. In Luke 2:21, Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day, which indicated this child was part of the covenant relationship that God made with Abraham, where circumcision was the outward sign. In Luke 2:42, Jesus was 12 when taken to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, marking Jesus’s coming of age spiritually. Up until that point, a Jewish boy was dependent on his parents for instructions in the Law of God, but from that moment on, the boy became responsible for his own reading, understanding and obedience to the Law. In Luke 3:23, Jesus was 30 years old when He was baptized and began His ministry. Thirty was an important age in a Jewish man’s development. The Old Testament tells us that a man could not be qualified as a priest in the temple until he was 30.

       What does this teach us? Although Jesus was never not God, He never took shortcuts in the process of living; He spent 30 years preparing for just three years of ministry. We like to reverse the idea and think that in three years, we can prepare for 30 years of activity, but there are things we never learn in a classroom; we only ever learn it through the rough and tumbles of life. In a day and age where everything is available to us fast, we can go to a fast-food restaurant and receive our meal in a minute or order something online and receive it the next day. We want everything quickly, but God does not work that way. 

       God takes His time, and in the life of His Son, God did not fast-track Jesus straight to His ministry. We could imagine times when Jesus passed a leper on the street and longed to say, “Be clean,” or to a lame man, “Get up and walk!” but the Father never gave Jesus permission to do that. Jesus waited for His Father’s timing, and while waiting, He worked as a carpenter. Jesus worked, sawing wood and hammering nails with His own hands. Even though He was God in essence, He could have told the piece of wood, “Become a table!” and it becomes a table, but there was no fast track, as there are things we only ever learn through the daily routine of growing. 

       We may not know what God is going to do with our life, but there are processes He takes us through to get there. May we not short-circuit what God is doing, but submit to His timing like Jesus did.

Prayer: Lord God, thank You that Your timing is perfect. Help me not short-circuit what You are doing in my life, but wholly submit to Your timing. Amen.