400 Years

I am the youngest of 5 with my siblings ranging in age from 7-12 years older than me.  Growing up, from the age of about 10 on, many of our Sundays were spent traveling to see my older siblings and their families. My parents and I often went to church on Sunday, but would leave right after the service in order to get to my brothers' or sister's in time for dinner with them.  I loved those visits with my siblings (and eventually nieces and nephews) and wouldn't have traded those visits for anything, but as a result  I didn't attend Sunday School regularly during those years and am still learning a lot about the Bible.

Our church is celebrating the Advent season with the theme, 
"Breaking The Silence."   

This theme refers to the 400-year span between the last book of the Old Testament (Malachi) and the first book of the New Testament (Matthew).  Did you know that in the time period between when those two books of the Bible were written, God was silent?  His people did not hear from him for 400 years!

That just amazed me.  I never realized that before.  Throughout the Old Testament God kept promising a covenant that He would fulfill and His believers kept waiting... and waiting... and waiting.  In those 400 years not a single prophet, priest... no one... heard from God, yet all continued to worship, pray, and live in expectation of Him fulfilling his covenant.


I love jotting down things that are important to me during worship.  Here's what I wrote in my Bible:

Can you imagine being a believer and waiting like that?  You could have lived your whole life and never heard another word from God.

You know I am impatient, so obviously I would have struggled with this period of silence greatly.  In an age where instant gratification is the norm, at least in our country, I am guessing I would not be alone on the impatience train.

I like to think I would have been a faithful follower and kept on believing.  But I have to wonder, "Would I have?"

It reminds me of the look I sometimes get from my husband after I have said something like this:  "We should get _______."  

Fill in the blank - it could be a new dining room table, a new bedroom set, and yes it usually involves a larger sum of money.  Michael will get this faraway look, gaze off in the distance as if seeing some timeline only visible to him, and say, "Yes, someday we can do that."   I often turn my head and look in the same direction he is to try to see whatever it is he is looking at, but I don't see anything.  Then he laughs.


This is good, because while Michael and I are alike in my ways, we are also opposite in some ways.  I come up with some great ideas, but they are not always practical, so I am the idealist and Michael is the more practical one in our marriage.

I know what that faraway look and "someday" really mean: "I listened, I heard you, I love your ideas and your heart, but don't get your hopes up anytime soon!"

(If you are asking, why doesn't Michael just say "no", it is because that hurts my feelings and he knows it.  It may be silly, but it works for us!)

And that's okay.  I need to be reigned in at times.

I wonder if I had lived in the days before God spoke again in the New Testament, during that 400 years of silence,  would I have had that faraway look in my eyes if someone had said to me, "God really is going to fulfill His promise you know!"  


Would I have kept believing? 


Would I have thought or even said a bit sarcastically, "Yeah, right, someday"? 

Not only did God's followers continue to believe, but they believed strongly. 

At this time of year there are so many things that amaze me. That list now includes the unending faith of God's believers, even in silence.

That humbles me.


*******

"This is God's universe and He does things His way.  You may have a better way, but you don't have a universe."   - J. Vernon McGee

Doesn't this quote just make you smile?!