Day 2. Today’s reading is Psalm 44 and Luke 8:22-56
There is a wonderful praise song that we love that talks about “the God of angel armies.” Imagine in your darkest and most difficult hour the heavenly host of celestial beings all coming at God’s command to surround and protect you. I can get fired up about that.
One line of the song says, “The God who reigns forever, He is a friend of mine.” Jennifer sent us a video a few years ago of Jakson, our 10-year old grandson singing that song. He was about 4 at the time. In the video, he has no shirt on. His skinny little ribs are easy to count as he puffs out his chest. He throws his head back and from the top of his lungs belts out, “THE GOD WHO TAKES FOREVER, HE IS A FRIEND OF MINE.”
Now I like the first part of this song, angel armies, coming to watch over me. Man, that is good news. But to tell you the truth, most of us are pretty familiar with Jakson’s version, “the God who takes forever.” We have lived in what one of my friends calls “the waits” for a long time, believing so much in God but wondering when He would show up. I want to be rescued and I want it NOW!
In the Psalm that we are reading this week, David accuses God of being asleep. In the passage in Luke that we read today, Jesus IS asleep. Man, the storms are howling, the enemy is coming. The decisions have to be made, and God is asleep on the job. Or at the very least, He hasn’t had His morning cup of coffee and He is moving way to slow for our liking.
Sound familiar. Well if you are hoping for a quick answer to that problem in this little blog…keep waiting. All I know is that God is ALWAYS faithful. In Luke, He wakes up and calms the storm, He casts out a bunch of demons, He heals a woman, and He raises a little girl from the dead. He ALWAYS comes through. But sometimes it takes a little longer than we want. He seems to be asleep.
Maybe that’s the point in “the God who takes forever.” Maybe we finally need to realize that His timing is better than ours. As we learn to WAIT upon the Lord He not only renews our strength, He weakens our enemies. He makes our paths straight. He brings clarity to our situation. He makes our witness powerful. You name it. He does it.
The Psalmist ends His plea for God to wake up with these words, “Ransom us because of Your unfailing love.” It’s a tough time. The marriage isn’t good. My finances are a disaster. The church is divided. My doctor says there is a problem. Any of that, and David still says, “Listen, His love never fails.” And Luke says, “He’s got the weather, and the devil, and the thing that seems impossible to you, under control.”
So whatever you are waiting for God to do during 40 Days to Celebrate the King, healing, hope, restored relationships, renewed faith….don’t stop waiting. Remember what lies ahead at the end of this time, the King comes. Oh, He’s just a baby It will take a while, but when He is ready (not me), He is going to do some spectacular things in your life. And it will not take forever Jakson, it just feels like it.
Here’s our morning prayer again:
“Almighty God, as You have given Jesus Christ to be our Savior and Lord, grant us now grace to accept and rejoice in His Lordship.” Amen
Some questions that come up for me:
There are 4 miracles, 3 of them healing, in the Luke passage.
How is each one of these miracles different from the rest?
What do they all have in common?
What would Luke, the author of this passage, say to King David, the writer of Psalm 44?
(Here’s a hint…there are no wrong answers.) 😊
Good stuff!! I Read your blog….I concur God is always Faithful….And seems to take forever to reveal his plan sometimes.
You still are the absolute best writer I know.
Be blessed today!!
🙂 Love you, Sharon. You are nearly every day in our prayers right now.
I can’t count the number of times that I found myself thankful God answered my prayers on His timing and not that of my own. He knew much better than I and He provided more abundantly than I imagined.
Good Don. He always comes through.
I think faith is the key in all the miracles in today’s Bible reading in Luke 8. We must have faith that our God is able and have faith to wait on God’s timing.
I find that there is usually a reason for the wait. To build your faith, to work patience, to change a behavior…etc. Sometimes, I find comfort in the fact that He is sleeping. If He ain’t worried, why should I?
This has my name on it. When I have been in “the waits” for so long, I tend to jump ship and try to fix it myself. As I have matured, basically gotten older, I see that never works. Bc He “is a friend of mine…”. His timing. He’s got it. Thanks for this. God bless!
“In HIS Time”, not ours. That’s a hard lesson to learn sometimes. But His way is always best, when we learn to wait. Is. 40:31
Been praying for God to take care of a problem for a long time. I have to remind myself it’s not in my timing but I’m Gods time.
He will. And I do too. 🙂