A Little While
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How long is “a little while?”
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I recently asked the Lord why I was somewhere, and how long would I be there.
Naturally, it was not up to me, but Him.
When I visited the place, he showed me right then why I was there.
But, for how long? And would I stay?
He answered a few days later.
He said “A little while.”
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In the bible, sometimes we have a day equal to a thousand years.
Sometimes, a day is a year.
A time, times, and half a time is 3 ½ years.
A week is 7 years.
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But how much is “a little while?”
What were the circumstances when “a little while” was indicated in the Bible?
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Jesus, in his brief ministry, told the apostles he would not be with them much longer.
And when he left, he was leaving earth.
Jhn 7:2 Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand.
Jhn 7:33 Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and [then] I go unto him that sent me.
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It indicated a time of light vs. darkness, and a last chance to accept the light.
It also indicated that when he left, it was where they could not follow him there.
Jhn 12:35 Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walks in darkness knows not whither he goes.
Jhn 13:33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come;
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Before the crucifixion, at the last supper…..
There was just hours left then, and followed by a 50 day waiting period for the holy spirit.
Jhn 16:19 Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me?
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Hbr 10:37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
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It may be “a little while” that we stay somewhere, before we move on to another assignment God has for us.
Or…..
It may be “a little while” before none of us are here anymore!
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Maybe we should prepare for the departure, and what lies ahead, before we leave.
Maybe, we only have “a little while” left.
Heaven Awaits 
Read everything in the context, immediate and remote. Then you will be in shalom. 🙂
Beautiful, Marianne. I am touched by this post. Been a while since I focused on the words, ‘a little while.’ And everytime I read them, I feel the supernatural comfort they offer. ‘A little while’…words outside of time…words of assurance…of promise. And oh….my….the things Christ endured during the span of ‘a little while’ that he was apart from them was the thing he ‘sweated as it were drops of blood’ in the garden. “A little while’ of crucifixion, of (Isaiah 53) making his grave with the wicked and the rich, of making his soul and offering for sin, of pouring his soul out to death, of being numbered with the transgressors, of desolation so horrible that he screamed, ‘My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?’ “A little while’ …words full of revelation. When Christ spoke them to the deciples, He surely was comforting His own heart concerning ‘separation’…as well as the hearts of those who love Him. Wow, Marianne. Wow. Three little words.
Again, beautiful post.
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hi internet elias
I agree about what can happen in just a little while. Jesus did so much in a very short period of time. I hope we can say the same about our lives – that we did a lot for him as well. There would be no way to even come close to what he did for us, but our best effort is what he is looking for.
Hi Marianne,
I felt so good reading this post today. He said “Let not your heart be troubled..you believe in God , believe also in me…” …then he told us it would only be ” a little while”…and while as humans the time seems so long we are assured that he is coming again. i LOVE HIM SO MUCH.
me too !! 🙂
HE is inside you. HE manisfests himself as intelligence and love. You don’t have to wait for him, you can’t get away from him.
Very nice Marianne!
Idk if i would translate time, times, and a half as 3 1/2 days/years. The phrase is מועד מועדיים וחצי, it’s confusing because in Hebrew it works like this:
One month= month one, two months = monthayim, three+ months = three+ months. Also thing that come in pairs also follow this form, as if scales would be scalayim, ears = earayim, in modern Hebrew even glasses = glassayim. And only if someone knew this, a translation could be time, timayim, and a half, which would be three and a half, which you are right. But time isn’t years/ שנים, rather designated time/ מועד. We find this word first in Genesis with God’s creation of the stars: And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years. Here I think NIV did a great translation, by translating מועד as seasons. Notice that it’s directly in contrast with days and years, so even without knowing what it for sure is, it almost certainly is not days or years. There’s a Jewish tradition of מועד being a 400 years period, and I find it interesting that the Mayans also have calendar counts of 360 and 400 years. Festivals are also considered מועדים, including Jubilee, so perhaps a “time” is actually a 50 year period between Jubilees. There are a lot of possibilities, ranging from less than a year to some 1400 years. Where the starting and ending points are is very interesting, but I think the holy spirit will explain it better than anything we can calculate. The prophecies in Daniel are meant to be understood after the fact in order to prove God perfection in fulfilling his word. For example, few understood the 70 weeks as being years, and how that would lead to the coming of Yeshua, but before he came people knew through John the Baptist and the Holy Spirit, and after he died his disciples saw that he had perfectly fulfilled exactly what Daniel had prophesied 600 years earlier in exactly the right time. The second coming will probably be similar.
also for a little while is in Isiah 54:7 For a brief moment/little while I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. It’s hard to say, we’ve also been exiled so many times you don’t know which one it’s referring to. I don’t think the 2000 year exile counts since that was against those who saw the coming of the Son of Adam and didn’t believe in him. Speaking of exile Marianne, have you ever been led to divine service in Israel? If the spirit leads you here, you know you have a believer you can visit =)
shalom “s”
Awesome. I was looking for a contact in Israel that was a believer. I have been to Israel several times, and I have some friends there, but they are traditional Jews, not believers in Yeshua. There was one Messianic, but he moved to Russia to be with his family. Any “service” I have been to has been an orthodox shul, or it was in a room in a hotel on shabat.
On the news they told of a 5 year old girl who was killed in a car accident. The last year she was all out praying for and collecting for clean water for the 3rd world poor. She was a gentle, generous little person. Her last wish was for her 6th birthday money to go for her “cause”, not gifts.
Hearing of her online with Facebook, people have sent tens of thousands for her clean water efforts.
With people like her still on earth, I don’t think God is finished with our country. She’s a saint in Heaven who keeps on giving
Lenin often said, “The worse things get, the better.” Some religious people have taken that slogan too much to their hearts. There are many green shoots of compassion and faith…I want to water them and repeat their stories.
hi deanna
That is inspiring. We all should be like that. It also is a good reason to hope that God will be gentle with us believers as we approach troubled times. we are still here, producing good fruit.
it also brings to mind in Revelaion 6:10 where the souls under the alter ask how long it will be until their blood is avenged and he responds in 6:11 a “little season”…which to me is basically a “little while”