A Day in the Life
“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.”
Genesis 12:2
As I reflect on the life of Jesus, I am continually struck by how much of His earthly ministry was shaped not by urgency, but by alignment with the Father’s timing. Jesus lived with an unshakable awareness of eternity. He never rushed to prove Himself, never forced outcomes, and never bypassed formation for function. That same eternal perspective is already present in the earliest pages of Scripture, particularly in God’s call to Abram. Long before Abram became Abraham, long before Isaac was born, God spoke a promise that far exceeded the man’s present capacity. God did not merely assign Abram a task; He committed Himself to shaping a person.
In the biblical world, a name was never incidental. A name represented character, calling, and destiny. To know someone’s name was to know who they were becoming. This is why God so often renamed those He transformed. Abram, whose name meant “exalted father,” had no child and no nation. Yet God declared, “I will make your name great.” In other words, God promised to shape Abram’s inner life until it could sustain the weight of the promise. The transformation from Abram to Abraham was not immediate. It unfolded slowly, painfully, and faithfully over twenty-five years. During that time, God worked on Abraham’s trust, obedience, humility, and perseverance. The promise preceded the preparedness, but God refused to allow the blessing to outpace the character.
When I look at the life of Jesus, I see the same divine pattern. Though He was the Son of God, He spent thirty years in obscurity before beginning His public ministry. Luke tells us that Jesus “grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” Growth came before visibility. Formation came before proclamation. Dallas Willard once observed, “God is not opposed to effort, but He is opposed to earning.” Jesus’ hidden years were not wasted years; they were invested years. The Father was shaping the human life of the Son to carry the redemptive mission entrusted to Him. Eternity was never in a hurry.
This perspective confronts our impatience. Many of us long for divine assignments while quietly resisting divine preparation. We want clarity without waiting, influence without refinement, and fruit without deep roots. Yet Scripture consistently teaches that a small character will collapse under a large responsibility. Abraham learned this the hard way through missteps, delays, and moments of fear. Still, God did not revoke the promise. He simply continued the process. Peter later reminds us that “the Lord is not slow about His promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient.” God’s patience is not absence; it is intentional formation.
Jesus lived every day aware that the Father was at work beneath the surface. When crowds pressed Him, He withdrew. When expectations mounted, He prayed. When opportunities arose prematurely, He waited. He understood that the Kingdom of God advances not through hurried ambition, but through faithful obedience shaped over time. As I walk through this truth, I am reminded that delays are often classrooms, not denials. If God seems silent about the next assignment, it may be because He is speaking deeply into who I am becoming.
The study’s questions press gently but firmly. How is God building my character? I see it in the quiet disciplines, in the disappointments that teach surrender, and in the daily choices to trust rather than control. Do I sense a task ahead that requires a far greater person than I am now? If I am honest, yes. And that recognition is itself grace. It signals that God’s vision for my life exceeds my present formation, and that He is committed to closing that gap. The invitation is not to rush ahead, but to yield. To allow the Spirit to shape patience, faithfulness, and humility in me, just as He did in Abraham and perfectly modeled in Jesus.
Thousands of years after Abraham first heard God’s promise, the world is still being blessed through his story—and through his descendant, Jesus Christ. That blessing was not born out of haste, but out of trust refined over time. As I order my own life today, I am reminded that God’s eternal perspective is always larger than my immediate desire. Becoming always precedes doing in the Kingdom of God.
For further reflection on God’s timing and character formation, see:
https://www.bibleproject.com/articles/why-does-god-test-people/
FEEL FREE TO COMMENT, SUBSCRIBE, AND REPOST, SO OTHERS MAY KNOW