In Sunday School last week, I came across the phrase “in the fullness of time,” and it spoke to me. It was a word of encouragement in the midst of a stressful situation that God would work it out. However, I have a love/hate relationship with the phrase because while it is encouraging, it also means waiting.
Waiting…sometimes I get very tired of that word and everything it stands for. I get so tired of struggling and just want the situation to be resolved. Yet, the struggle reminds me of the story of the butterfly in the chrysalis. The story goes that a child watching the butterfly struggle to break free decides to help it. When the butterfly does get free, it is too weak to fly. The point being that the struggle to break free is what gave the butterfly strong wings so that it could fly when it came time…in the fullness of time.
We don’t like the struggles, but I suppose it is what helps us gain strength so that one day we will be able to fly. Isaiah 40:31 says “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
Again…that word…waiting. If we wait upon the Lord, he will give us strength so that we can soar. In the meantime he gives us grace to get through the struggle as we live by faith. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” It is knowing that what he says will happen will happen…in the fullness of time. In other words, it will happen when God says it is the right time.
While I am waiting to finally fly free, I will keep pushing until I see the light of day and feel the wind on my face until in the fullness of time I see my faith become sight.