“When are your library books due back?” That’s easy enough to answer, right?! You flip to the inside back cover to find the date stamped on the pocket. If your electric bill payment is due on the 15th of the month that is a very specific time.

“When are you due?” Perhaps the question most asked of a mom-to-be and while the doctor has given a due date, we know that babies seldom arrive on the date they are expected! But at least we have a ballpark estimate of when we can expect the celebration to begin!

The Bible also uses the word ‘due’ but it’s usually wedged into this phrase: in due time. That takes it from being pretty specific to frustratingly abstract. In fact, most often, when we read ‘in due time’…we tend to think that ‘waiting for the answer for an indefinite length of time‘ is the translation. In the Old Testament, Hannah prayed, and cried, and begged God for a child for years. 1 Samuel 1 in verse 20 (NLT) it says “in due time Hannah gave birth to a son”. 1 Peter 5:6 (NIV) tells us to “humble yourselves under God’s mighty hand and He will lift you up in due time.” And one of my favorite promises is in Galatians 6:9 (TLV). “So let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we don’t give up.”

It may only take twenty seconds to read one verse in the Bible that talks about what can happen in due time. The actual answer could take a lifetime! Let’s face it. We have a very limited scope of the whole story of our lives. But God sees it all. He knows how all of our stories fit together to tell HIS story. And it will be magnificent… when it’s all told… in due time!