Oh, the dreaded "wait". Don't we hate that? Have you ever wondered how long we are to "wait"? Do you ever feel that your "wait" had turned into an unequivocal "no"? I know I have!
But then,
I think on the story of the Prodigal Son.
Luke 15:11-32
In His story, Jesus never says how long it took the son to squander his money, or how much time he wasted debasing himself. I think that is very purposeful-I tend to think it was a long time...years. Years of prayers and heartache for the father, years God was working on the son's heart. And finally, the son came home to his waiting father's arms.
A faithful prayer answered.
I think of Elizabeth and Zacharias.
Luke 1:5-25, 57-80
They prayed and served and waited for a child. I think there must have been a moment, an age, when they felt it wasn't going to happen-that they had received a "no". God was preparing the world for his "forerunner" - timing. Then the unthinkable, a miracle-an angel comes and tells Zacharias they will have a son-John.
The answer to a long forgotten prayer.
And what about the crippled man that Peter healed?
Acts 3-4:31
He was there, at the temple, every day. People passed him by for years. He had been afflicted since his birth and when we meet him he is past 40! We see him asking for alms, but I'm sure he longed for healing. Can you imagine the years in Jesus' active ministry? When He was healing and preforming miracles, He was in and out of the temple-yet Jesus, who was very aware of his need, never healed this man. Why? Timing. Peter and John receive the Holy Spirit and burst onto the scene of an emotionally charged Jerusalem. They are approached by this man, as they probably had been before, and their response is healing-full, complete, healing.
An answer to a prayer possible unuttered.
I think about that "wait" answer...it can be so hard to wait. But we can rest! Because we have a great God who is perfect and outside of time and we can know that He has the "timing" perfect.
0 comments:
Post a Comment