TO CHEW ON: "And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years—on that very same day—it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt." Exodus 12:41
Here was the fulfillment of what God had told Moses would happen (Exodus 3:8,10; 6:6; 7:4). It's comforting to read words like "… at the end of the four hundred and thirty years—on that very same day—it came to pass." Israel's days of slavery in Egypt had a definite ending, a point in time when they were finished.
The Bible speaks of human activities in time as within God's knowledge and control. A phrase that is sometimes used to describe this is "the fullness of time." That's the title of one of the chains of verses in my Thompson Chain Bible. "The fullness of time" is defined as "God's appointed time when everything is ready" - NKJV Thompson Chain Bible, p. 1771.
Some fullness-of-time verses:
- There was a definite moment in time when Joshua and the Israelites had followed all God's instructions to conquer Jericho "…and it happened" (Joshua 6:16, 20).
- John the Baptist preached "The time is fulfilled" (Mark 1:15) just before Jesus arrived on the scene.
- Paul explained Jesus' life on this earth in those terms: "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His son…" Galatians 4:4.
- He also speaks of Jesus' return still to come "… which He will manifest in His own time" - 1 Timothy 6:15.
God doesn't have a fulness of time for only the big theological events of history, but also for our lives. David talks about this in Psalm 139:
"You comprehend my path and my lying down
And are acquainted with all my ways…
You have hedged me behind and before
And laid Your hand on me…
And in Your book they all are written.
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them" - Psalm 139: 5, 15, 16 (emphasis added).
We can trust God with His "fullness of time" for us. Whatever trial we're in of sickness, difficult circumstances, money troubles, family issues, He knows and will help us through them until we come to the very day our trial will pass.
PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for Your knowledge of my times, and how You have brought me through hard stuff in the past. Help me to trust You to bring me through the things I face today. Amen.
PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 20
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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
