Trust God’s Timing

David had a promise from God. God had sent Samuel to anoint him the next king of Israel. However, the current king, Saul, wanted to kill him. David, though, understood Saul was God’s anointed one. Even when David was presented with the opportunity to kill Saul, he refused. He declined to take matters into his own hands. 1Samuel 24. David trusted God’s promise, his involvement and his timing.

We, too, have promises from God. Some of them are to all believers, like the one about seeking God first and he’ll give you what you need. But we also carry around impressions and senses that we believe are from the Lord, specifically for us–a ministry, a healing, or a relational promise.   

Our great challenge is to trust God’s words, his involvement, and his timing, without taking matters into our own hands.  May we hold on, as David did, to God’s faithfulness. May we believe God is aware of our circumstances and is actively working to fulfill his promises. May we trust his timing.

Father-God, thank you for your years of faithfulness to your people. We long for your kingdom to come, in all its fullness, in our lives. 

Ann Tatlock; Prayer

Muscaricloseup02_72_dpi_2 I’m behind on my goal of writing two devotionals a week and I’m feeling too scattered this morning to get one done today. So, here’s something different.

An author recommendation: Ann Tatlock. I just finished her latest novel, Things We Once Held Dear. This book is a study of a man returning home after an absence of many years to confront some unfinished business. I met her two years ago in Ashville at the Writing for the Soul conference. We had a chat at dinner about borderline personality disorder and she kindly looked at some of my writing. Even though I’m famous among my friends for not remembering what I read, I often remember a wonderful father character from another of her stories. I’ve seen her work in general market bookstores, not just Christian ones.

Here’s a prayer for the day: Sweet Jesus, how we need you. We need you like flowers need rain. We need you like stomachs need food. Like the earth needs the sun. We are made to need you. Help us be more and more comfortable in our dependence. The world expects us to be independent, autonomous, and thinks something wrong with us if we acknowledge need. But we are always needy and you are always sufficient. Thank you. Help us let you meet our needs today. So be it.

Dark Sides

I have a photo of Bill Clinton attached to my board next to my computer. He’s sitting in a chair, legs crossed, with a strong light shining on the right side of his face. The left side of his face is in complete darkness. I wonder if he knows just how accurately that photo portrays his character. In a betrayal stunning in its stupidity, he showed the world what an unknown "dark side" can lead to when he defamed the American presidency.

But, are we any different? Don’t we too, have dark sides? The challenge of those dark parts of ourselves is to know and manage them. I wonder if Mr. Clinton had ever acknowledged his sexual weaknesses to himself. When we do not acknowledge to ourselves our particular proclivities to sin, we are sitting targets for the "flaming darts of the evil one." We manage our weaknesses by taking seriously what our particular temptations are and keeping ourselves out of certain situations. Some of us need to unplug the internet. Others of us need to stop buying ice cream and candy. Many of us need to cut up credit cards. There’s nothing easy here, but we either live in the light or we are blindsided by our darkness.

Jesus, please convict us, in your kind, firm way, of those ways we lead ourselves into temptation. Only you can deliver us from evil.