Seven Little Letters

Have you ever had anyone angry at you give you the ultimatum "well, then ___".

Have you ever had anyone question how you were to achieve a result with "how then ___".

Have you had a professor give a lecture and proceed to tell you what he/she expects with "now then ___".

Do you recall a time when your parent listened of your plans for the future and questioned them by saying "well, if not___ then___" .  (As if giving you options in case you were unsuccessful!)

Have you told your husband of plans for redecorating & he had a different idea with the words "but then___"

Have you ever told your children "when you pick up your toys only then can you_____!"

Phrases like "why then" and "until then" have such negative connotations in my mind.

There are circumstances with God's people in the Bible where he showed grace and the very next words will sometimes be, "even then ______", they did not follow.

However, there are two, tiny, 7 little letters, that can change the world! 

"AND THEN"

Those two words are a transition from one thing, usually mediocre, to something wonderful and life changing. 

I went through then entire Bible seeking out these transitions.  There are almost 3000 "thens" in the Word of God, but the "and thens" are few.  In the Old Testament I discovered most "and thens" are about the life of a person:  as in Genesis 5:5 "Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died."

Or they represent the order in which the priests completed tasks in the temple:  Leviticus 14:7 "Seven times he shall sprinkle the one to be cleansed of the defiling disease, and then pronounce them clean."

Sometimes those little words announce what God is doing to sustain his children:  as in Deuteronomy 8:3 "He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord."

Occasionally, these little words in the Bible teach us to wait:  I Samuel 3:15 "Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord."

Sometimes they are a transition into what God is promising us:  I Kings 20:13 "This is what the Lord says: ‘Do you see this vast army? I will give it into your hand today, and then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

We receive order from those words:  2 Samuel 19:39  "So all the people crossed the Jordan, and then the king crossed over." 

OR

Ezekiel 13:23b  "I will save my people from your hands.  And then you will know that I am the Lord."

However, my favorite "and thens" came in the New Testament. 
Naturally, they mostly point to Jesus!

Matthew 16:27  "For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done!

Matthew 27:29 "and then  they twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said.  (as sad as this transition is, it is filled with Jesus' love for us)

Mark 2:4 "Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on.

Luke 6:10 "He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' He did so, and then his hand was completely restored."

John 16:17 "At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?”

Hebrews 7:27 "Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself."

The words "and then" alone mean nothing.  They are incomplete, but try and take something small and transition it without them.  "Jesus told the man to hold out his hands. His hand was completely restored." 

"Jesus told the man to hold out his hand, and then, his hand was completely restored!"  See, these words lead to  courage, love, faithfulness, power, humility and hope.  They make a ghost story around a camp fire better, the make history come alive, and show how ashes can turn to beauty. 

So, in writing this I have come to ask myself those words more often.  "I am going to the grocery store 'and then' I think I will buy lunch for the homeless man outside."  "I am going to look at Arise Africa's website 'and then' I am going to sponsor a child."  "I am going to work hard today 'and then' tomorrow spend time with God more intimately."  What will your transitions be today? What will you change from mediocre to fantastic?  What dream will you make a reality? Remember you can do all things in Christ who gives you strength!  So your "and thens" have no limits, they will bring order to your life, teach you to wait, allow God to sustain you, strengthen your faith and then....