Readings: Judges 13:2-7; 24-25; Psalm 71; Luke 1:5-25
The First Reading and today’s Gospel are very powerful and instinctively related. They are stories of good news to childless women, a message of hope to distressed families and the announcement of God’s purpose for their unborn children.
I just want to draw a lesson that I believe we all need today. Today, let’s ponder on what I have titled: “When the time is right.”
The wife of Manoah was childless for a long time. She must have been wondering, “Will I ever have a child? Will God ever answer me? If He will, when will that be?”
Elizabeth was also childless till her old age, despite her faithfulness to God.
When the appointed time came, God announced that He was changing their status.
Samson was to come at a time when the Israelites would need a deliverer to save them from the Philistines. He couldn’t come earlier. Some blessings are never to be received before their time.
John was to come just before the coming of the much-expected Saviour. He could never have come earlier but only at a time when Jesus was ready to step into human history.
This is why these parents had to wait. God has a plan for all of us and He will settle every one of us eventually but everything must be done in His time. His time is the best.