Hindsight

 

Listen, I will tell you a mystery; We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed...

Those words echo back through the years, and their veracity is astounding. Our Young Marrieds group at church would joke about this verse often. I miss that group and those days! When my babies were babies, they did not sleep. No, I mean it, they did not sleep. My oldest was a marathon nurser. He would nurse for 90 minutes at a time and start every 2 hours, around the clock. By the time he was a few months old I was so sleep deprived my husband caught me chasing hallucinated butterflies down the hallway. When my daughter came home from Liberia at the age of 4, we would wake up at all hours of the night to find her wandering around the house playing with random things. And then my youngest. He had a soy allergy that manifested in him stopping breathing multiple times a night. I would have to sit him up and pat his back to get him breathing again. I did not hit a deep sleep phase for a year. I did not sleep, but I was definitely changed! And so were they!

They warn you about the number of diapers you will go through with babies, but nothing can prepare you for the sheer volume! And then when you have four kids back-to-back, well, let's just say we should have bought stock!

Over the years as I've sat under different teachers, I've learned that prophecy in the Bible often (always?) has more immediate and distant application. Now, I'm not entirely sure if this is what was meant by this, but I am certain that God gave me a Word for this season of my life and that it very much came true. We did not all sleep, but we were all changed. The verse goes on to say, "in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, at the last trumpet." You know how people jokingly say, "You blinked!" when referring to how quickly children grow up? It's so true! It really does just seem like yesterday. I can't believe my babies are 21, 22, 23, and 24. Yeah, you read that right. They spread out over the next few months, but in August they are stair-stepped. In the blink of an eye, they changed into these incredible creatures - ones that I sit in amazement of. I am in awe of how God is working in and through them, even when they aren't aware of it. I think this applies to me too. I am VERY different than the person (who was the age they are now!) that I was then. I am blessed to see many of the ways that God has worked in and through me, but I bet there's a lot I haven't seen. I am changed.

So that's the "immediate" application of this word in our lives, what about the distant one? The next verse shares some insight about that, "For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed." When Jesus comes back, the trumpet will sound, and we will all be raised imperishable - all of us that are found in Christ that is. Imperishable. What a thought! No more pain. No more migraines. No more worries about calories or fat or pulled muscles. No more concern over sweat or stink or decay. No more stretch marks. No more tumors. No more scars. Except for the most important ones - those on Jesus' hands and sides. Oh my goodness, that can't come soon enough! Now THAT is something to look forward to! 

Here's the Thing: As certain as I am that I have seen the first fulfillment of this Word in the change of the last twenty years, I am even more certain about the future fulfillment of this Word. God's plans for us are certainly good!

Listen, I will tell you a mystery; We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.  1 Corinthians 15:51-52