Sometime ago, I published a post entitled: “The Time Between”, which was referring to the time between a decision and its manifested results. Today, I will focus on a different “time between” which is introduced to us in the Gospel of John:

Jesus came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but you will understand later.” (John 13:6,7 EXB)

That passage reveals that there was a specific time in Peter’s history in which he didn’t understand a certain course of action Jesus was about to undertake, and there was going to be a time in which he would understand it. It follows that these two times imply a third one, namely, the time between not understanding it and understanding it. This is precisely the time we will consider in this present post.

Obviously, that period can last hours or decades. But, be that as it may, it is always a difficult ordeal during which our faith, or trust, or patience is being tested. In the case of Simon Peter his immediate reaction was: “You will never wash my feet!” The simple fact is: We, humans, don’t like darkness. We want to walk in the light of our own understanding. But at times this alternative is taken away from us as it was from Peter. When this becomes our reality, how do we react? This is the question under consideration.

The pressure it implies

The pressure this specific “time between” exercises on a person is proportional to the degree in which the occurrence affects him. In the case of Peter, that degree was not excessively high. But what about the man in the Gospel of John who was born blind (John 9:1)? What did he make of it? He might have asked God—perhaps quite often—“Why has this happened to me?” And the answer might have been something like: “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but you will understand it later.” Now we know there was a reason for his blindness: “… that the works of God should be revealed in him” (John 9:3). But when did the blind man come to that understanding? How did he face that “time between” which lasted decades?

And what about John the Baptist, who was incarcerated and eventually decapitated? He had fulfilled his ministry with humility and faithfulness. But now he was stuck in prison. And to make things worse, he knew that the One who came to set Israel free could have, at any time, set him free (as He did later with Peter, Paul, and Silas), but for unknown reasons He was not going to intervene in John’s behalf. The Scripture attests that John knew about Jesus’ miracles and His sovereign power. In fact, it is precisely this knowledge that created doubts in him:

And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” (Matt. 11:2,3)

The answer Jesus gave is worth considering:

Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” (Matt. 11:4–6)

The message Jesus sent to John is clear. It could be paraphrased this way: “What you have heard is true. I can perform miracles. I have power and authority”. But then Jesus added: “And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”

Sometimes what Jesus does or doesn’t do can offend us. This is precisely one of the risks involved during the “time between”, the longer the period, the greater the risk becomes. But the man who trusts God, even in darkness, will be blessed. Amy Carmichael puts it in these words: “If we wait till we have clear enough vision to see the expected end before we rest our mind upon Him who is our Strength, we shall miss an opportunity that will never come again: we shall never know the blessing of the unoffended.” Job experienced that blessing. Listen to what he said: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15). This is confidence at its purest state.

Man’s finite understanding

As long as we will dwell on the face of the earth, man’s understanding will always be limited. Nevertheless, when God acts, or moves, or judges, He doesn’t always do it within the limitation of man’s understanding, for He acts in the realm of infinite wisdom and according to the counsel of His own will (Eph. 1:11). It must be understood that God cannot change this aspect of actuality, otherwise He would stop being God. Consequently, there are decisions He will make, or courses of action He will undertake, that will go beyond our human understanding, at least for a period of time.

Two types of divine undertaking

God’s courses of action—which transcend human understanding—can be divided into two sub-groups. Those that will come to existence only by virtue of who God is, i.e., those that must happen in accordance with divine wisdom, and those that will come or not come to existence by virtue of who we are. In the first case, even if people get offended, God will not retract Himself, because the nature of the circumstance demands it. In the second case, God might or might not activate a certain course of action depending on our growth, trust, or spiritual fortitude.

The side effects of the “time between”

The “time between” is, in some ways, as a two-edged sword. It can cause us to fall or to grow. It can engender distrust or greater confidence. It can cause us to run away or draw near. It can bring bitterness or sweetness, self-pity or humility, confusion or adoration, rebellion or submission. Such are the cutting edges of the “time between”.

A word of warning

The test of darkness has always confronted the lovers of God. Actually, the closer a person draws to God, the more darkness that person will experience. After all:

He made darkness His secret place; His canopy around Him was dark waters and thick clouds of the skies” (Psalm 18:11).

The more a person knows God, the greater his trust in Him will be (Psalm 9:10). And the greater his trust in Him gets, the freer God is to use him where his understanding might not reach. Amy Carmichael puts it in these words: “There are some whom our Lord has so proved that He can trust them with any withholding, even the withholding of light.” This intimate collaboration, based on trust, is reported numerous times in the Scripture. A person might ask God to use him mightily, but if he gets offended, or unsettled, or paralyzed when his understanding doesn’t reach, i.e., when things get dark, then his usefulness will be crippled. In other words, our collaboration with God will not exceed our trust in Him because the former is contingent on the latter.

All in all, the “time between” referred to in this article can serve as a yardstick, for it can reveal the degree of our trust in Him, and consequently, the degree of the knowledge we have of Him (Psalm 9:10). This is a legacy for which we should all be grateful.

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