"LORD, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy...Answer me quickly, LORD...bring me out of trouble..."(Psalm 143:1,7,11)
"Answer me quickly..."
Isn't that what we want with everything in life? "Answer me quickly..."
Regardless of the question...and regardless of who we are asking...we want an answer, the answer we want to hear, and we want the answer quickly.
We do not want to wait for anything. We do not even have the patience to watch a commercial. We either flip the channel or we DVR the show so we can fast forward.
If we do not have patience to watch a whole TV program, our patience with God and His plans for our lives is probably pretty low.
But do not dispair, we are in good company...
King David, the man who God said was after His own heart, struggled with impatience for God to grant his desires. He wanted what he wanted and he wanted it NOW.
Sometimes David had a good purpose for his requests to God; And sometimes his motives were pretty selfish.
But even in the midst of his cries to God for mercy, to save him from his enemies and the struggles which surrounded him, David prayed, "Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground." (Psalm 143:10)
David asked God to help him see God's will for his life. Even though David was desparate to be relieved of the pain and worry which conflicted him, he knew that God's will for his life was better than anything he could imagine. And David trusted in God's will.
Life is full of struggles. We want quick fixes and ready solutions. We think if God loves us He should give the desires of our hearts and He should grant those desires quickly.
But God works in a timeline beyond our understanding. His will is perfect. His will for your life is perfect - - and in times of struggle and pain you are right to pray for His mercy, but know that sometimes God displays His love by not giving us what we want.
Living in God's will for your life means developing the patience to allow God to reveal each step of your life's journey one step at a time...and sometimes that means having to watch all of the comercials.
Scripture
Fun Fact - GUMY Memories...
#9 in the countdown of Top GUMY memories of all time...
In February 2002, we were preparing for our third 30HR famine and I hadn't been very faithful in promoting the activity. So about three days before the event weekend I prayed and asked God to send ten kids to the event for the weekend. I figured if each of the youth members who regularly attended brought one friend we should easily hit that number and have a good time with the event.
By 7:30 on Friday night, God answered by prayer...by four times. We had nearly 40 teenagers show up at the church to fast for 30 hours to raise awareness and money for kids around the world who were hungry.
I was humbled and completely in awe by what God did that weekend. And even more shocked Sunday morning, when a half dozen of the young people, most of whom had not gone to a church service before, came to worship with us and continued attending GUMC until they graduated and went to college four years later.
Question of the Day...
What was your favorite Super Bowl Commercial this year?
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Oh my gosh, I forgot about that commercial, it is a great one!! We really loved the Doritos commercial when the guy was teasing the little dog through the glass door with his Doritos and the little dog plowed through the door and it knocked the guy down. That was awesome.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love the memory of that blessed 30HR famine many years ago!!