The God of the In-Between
Photo by Ümit Bulut on Unsplash
I don't know what it's like where you live, but in Birmingham, AL, the month of March is an in-between month: not quite winter, not quite spring. Sure, the calendar tells us that spring begins in March. But there are more than a few days in the month when winter isn't quite ready to let go. Even though Spring Break is in March for us, a lake or a beach trip reminds us that even on the sunniest day, the water temperature will still make you think twice. It's not freezing. But it's not warm either. It's just sort of in-between.
If we are honest with ourselves, we also experience in-between seasons in life. Sometimes, we are between the last big thing and the next big thing. Maybe you're between jobs, or perhaps you're just between vacations. Maybe you're between your children's athletic or academic seasons, or maybe, just maybe, you find yourself in a period of an extended in-between. The last big thing was a long way back in your rearview mirror, and a glance ahead shows no big things on the horizon.
Wherever you find yourself, the in-between is a place fraught with risk. On one end of the spectrum, we rush the in-between, trying to get to the next thing as fast as possible. But when we do this, we risk missing out on what God has to show us in the seemingly mundane things of everyday life. On the other end, we risk becoming overwhelmed by the in-between, feeling as if we're stuck, or spinning our wheels.
Regardless of the nature of the in-between you find yourself in, I want to encourage you to take heart: God is the God of the in-between.
There are many moments in Scripture where we encounter people in their in-betweens. Abraham and Sarah are promised a child, Isaac, yet their in-between lasts 25 years. What did they do while they waited? They leaned into God's plan for them as best as they could.
Jacob knew God's covenant promise would pass through him, not his brother Esau. Jacob's life was way more complicated than it needed to be because he seemed to try and force God's hand to shorten his in-between.
What about Joseph? God had powerful plans for him, which God had hinted at in dreams when Joseph was a teenager. But it was only after years of hardship, including a few in an Egyptian prison, before Joseph's in-between finally ended. How do we see Joseph processing his lengthy in-between? From all the evidence in Scripture, he remained steadfast in his faith, trusting that God was with him and would see him through.
Perhaps the most "big picture" in-between in all the Bible is the intertestamental period. This was the 400 years between God's revelation to Malachi and the events surrounding the birth of Christ. Imagine being an Israelite during this season. There was so much upheaval and turmoil, and God was seemingly silent in all of it. No prophetic word. No outward evidence of inspired events. And then, suddenly, things start happening. Stories of angels appearing to people. Wonderous events. The accounts from awed shepherds. Mysterious magi emerging from afar. The long, dark in-between was coming to an end. And really, nothing would ever be the same.
Was God absent when Abraham and Sarah waited for the promise to come true? Was He looking the other way when Jacob was impatiently stumbling around? Was God distracted when Joseph suffered? The answer to these questions is, of course, no, just like He wasn't out for lunch during the 400 years of "silence" preceding Christ's birth. God is present. He is always near. He is never oblivious to our needs. And He sees us through what we perceive to be the in-between seasons of our lives.
Don't forget that God's timing is perfect; He sees with absolute clarity the entire arc of our lives and has the power to accomplish whatever He proposes.
From God's perspective, there are no in-betweens, only periods of growth between significant markers in your journey.
Every season through which God walks with you is rich with meaning if you're willing to see it. If you find yourself in what feels like an in-between, don't waste it. Ask God to reveal what He wants you to learn to prepare you for what He will do next.
This article originally appeared in the Good For You Newsletter, Vol: 11.
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