“He has made everything beautiful in its time…” Ecclesiastes 3:11
We who live in the western world and whose minds have been formed by European thinking patterns, are primarily linear thinkers. We are most comfortable with moving logically from point A to point B to point C, from the first event to the second to the third and fourth. We frequently want one story completed before we go on to a second or third.
But as we read the Bible we often see points and events and stories pile atop each other like sands on the seashore. For example, we read about great advances and growth in the early Church and then, quite unexpectedly, are these words: “Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples” (Acts 9:1). Layers of activity, all known and allowed by God. I call these Meanwhile Moments even though the word “meanwhile” isn’t specifically used in every case.
A Roman centurion hungry to know more about God is visited by an angel who tells him to send for a man named Peter. Meanwhile, thirty miles away Peter gets hungry, goes up to the roof to await his lunch, gets drowsy in the noontime sun, has a dream of food he’s never allowed to cross his lips: pigs, eagles, snakes and lobsters! All forbidden. He then hears God’s surprising and distinctive voice: “Here’s your lunch.”
While we are most comfortable with those Point A to Point B directions of life, God beautifully, surprisingly, even shockingly has Meanwhile Moments for us if we’ll only listen and follow His plan. In no uncertain terms, He told Job, “Why are you using your ignorance to deny my providence?” (Job 38:2, Living Bible) We are not to set aside our minds but to have them transformed and renewed so our eyes and hearts recognize these times, and then we are more ready and willing to step into God’s Meanwhile Moments.
By Marilyn Ehle
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