In the Fullness of Time

A series on the book of Micah
Week 3 – The Lord’s Plan
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Micah 4:1-5:6 

[In the book “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, Robert Louis Stevenson explores the struggle between good and evil in human nature. “Two sides of the same coin”, if you will. Similarly, Micah contrasts God’s hatred of sin but his love for sinners. In this series, we will look at both sides of God’s character and what that means for us today.]

“God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life”. As a 21-year-old college student whose life had been turned upside down, those words were music to my ears. The person who I had most wanted to love me… had rejected me. As a result, my life seemed to have no rhyme nor reason to it – let alone a plan.

 

However, the realization that God loved me and did have a plan for me, was a pivotal moment. Even though I couldn’t see it at the time, this meant that somehow God had already intervened in my life. The result was to give me new purpose and direction that changed my life forever.

 

We often can’t see how God is at work until after the fact. Yet, the Lord has a plan that is unfolding every day. Although he didn’t know the specifics, Micah prophesied about three different time periods of the Lord’s plan for his kingdom.

 First, he spoke about the last days, and how people from all over the world will come to the Lord’s temple to worship him.

 ² People from many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.”            NLT

Second, even before coming into power, Micah prophesied that the Babylonians would capture Jerusalem and take the Israelites into exile. But he also foretold that later a remnant of Israel would return.

 

^10b You will soon be sent in exile to distant Babylon. But the Lord will rescue you there; he will redeem you from the grip of your enemies.     NLT

 

Finally, Micah prophesied about a leader, the Messiah, who would one day “shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord”.

 

² “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”           NIV

 

As a 75-year-old man in the autumn of my life, God is still at work. He still loves me and has a plan for me. It’s up to me to discern it. What about you?

 

God loves you and has a plan for your life. That plan may not be evident now, but “in the fullness of time”, it will come to fruition.

 

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.                     NIV    Jeremiah 29

 

Copyright 2025 Joseph B Williams

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