In the Nick of Time

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “God’s never late.” The reason we need this saying is because often times we feel he indeed is late. Or nearly so. We’ve all seen God come through in the nick of time. But we’ve also been disappointed when it appears that he hasn’t.

I sat uncomfortably on the hard table waiting for the sonographer to return. Waiting for her to confirm her suspicion, that I had placenta previa. Again. As five minutes turned into ten, I placed my hand on my womb and asked the Lord for a miracle. “Move the placenta up now Lord! I know you can.”

I was quite familiar with placenta previa. It was discovered during the 20 week ultrasound of my pregnancy with Hannah. I had an ultrasound every two weeks in anticipation that the placenta would move up, but at 36 weeks it was still covering my cervix. The doctor told me if it hadn’t moved up one week later she would be scheduling the C-section.

God does not maliciously hold out until the last moment. He is too good, too loving, too faithful. But he is a God who works in such a way that exposes our level of trust in him. God uses these times of waiting through difficult situations to build our faith and to display his work to those who may not yet believe. And, God seems to like dramatic endings. Where he receives all the glory.

In Acts 12 we find Peter in prison, put there by Herod who had just had James beheaded. But instead of killing Peter at the same time, he was to be killed eight days later after the Passover. And this is what we read next,

“Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, ‘Get up quickly.’ And the chains fell off his hands” (Acts 12:6-7, ESV). God waited until the very night before his execution to deliver Peter. Scripture provides no explanation for this, but we can be sure God did not waste this time working in Peter, his fellow inmates, the guards, and the church, who was fervently praying for Peter’s release (Acts 12:5). I’m sure those eight days and nights were agonizing and long for Peter, but God came through just in time.

During Stephen’s speech in Acts 7, he reveals another long awaited promise where God acts at an unlikely time, “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. At this time Moses was born…” (Acts 7:17-20a).

In the midst of increasing oppression and cruel treatment, God raises up the man he will use to deliver his people. Though he allowed the Israelites to continue in suffering for many years, God had seen their affliction and heard their cries (Exodus 3:7). As the time approached for the promise to be fulfilled, God allowed circumstances which would appear contradictory to its fulfillment. Of course this did not threaten God‘s outlook, but to the Israelites it created doubt and a seemingly impossible scenario for God to come through. Ten plagues later, God delivers his people from Egypt.

And of course, we must consider the story of Lazarus. We can’t really call this in the nick of time. It was too late, or so it seemed. Lazarus was already a rotting corpse. But, we serve a God that considers it never too late. Nothing is too far gone when he is in the picture. 

“Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was” (John 11:5-6, ESV).

Jesus delayed going to see Lazarus, so that an even more glorious work would be displayed. In the meantime there was much sorrow and grief, along with disappointment from the sisters that Jesus had not come right away. Martha’s words to Jesus reveals this disappointment, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21). Little did she know that God had a much greater plan in store. A plan to build her faith and receive much glory unto himself.

When I went for my 37 week ultrasound, we found the placenta had moved up and I was able to deliver Hannah naturally. Those weeks of waiting were long and tiresome, and I cannot say I handled the testing well. But, I do know we had many times of prayer and increased dependence upon the Lord as we waited. The thanksgiving and joy that welled up within me is something I will never forget. It did build my faith, and has given me perseverance to keep praying until the end.

I don’t know the outcome of the previa this time around, but I rest in the knowledge that God does. We will pray for him to do what he has done before and move the placenta to allow for a natural birth. And we entrust the other complications that come with it to his loving hand.

Whether it be placenta previa or something more severe, we all have opportunities to trust God as we wait. God is never contrary to his character, but he often operates very differently than we would think best. Just because God worked one way in the past, doesn’t mean he will do it the same way again. But, his deeds of the past can boost our confidence, giving us hopeful expectation for him to pull through in some glorious way, as he always does.