God’s timing vs. my impatience

Today’s reading began with assurance that God's slowness to respond to my needs does not indicate lack of love but shows that He does love me. Getting my prayers answered is not as important as believing that He cares — even without any current evidence.

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. . . . When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. . . . Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” (John 11:5–42)

Then this statement from Charnock: “We should not depend upon second causes for our support, but look beyond them to the authority of the Deity, and the dominion he hath over all the works of his hands.” Jesus wanted this sister of Lazarus to believe based on His words, not based on the visible evidence that they are true. He said her brother would live, but she wanted to see him live.

When I pray for the salvation of loved ones, I want to see them living in faith. Jesus wants me to trust Him, to have that faith in Him as my Sovereign King. This is trust that draws me to Him in all experiences and keeps me in worship mode due to His royalty. Sometimes I come to Him with emptiness instead of being filled with holy thoughts and the strength that faith gives. My heart should be regarding Him as who He is and what He says. I can then be obedient according to my awe of who He is:

If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God. (Deuteronomy 28:58)

When I consider the majesty of God, I should not enter into His presence with light or foolish thoughts, as if He is a mere buddy, or worse, a genie in a bottle. I should not read His Word as if it were the voice of some ordinary scribe. It should always produce a consideration of His majesty and  engender reverence in my obedience and make me speak of God with honor and respect. He is a great and glorious king, far above His greatest blessings and those ‘second causes’ that are so easy to elevate as more vital. “If You had been here…” really! How could I think that He is not, or unaware, or does not care about the threats to my trust.

When I suffer or when others suffer and it seems God is not with us, I should remain confident. I’m to wait. I’m to weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15) and extend the love of Christ and the hope of salvation to all. And instead of hosting a pity-party, remembering that my time is short. We all are terminal. We all need to repent of telling God what to do and instead trust Him and live for His glory.

PRAY: Jesus, may Your goodness overwhelm me each day, even those days when it seems You are not here — but You are. You promised never to leave me. What do I believe? My feelings or Your Word? Enable me to live utterly for Your glory and for the joy of knowing You. Also enable me to trust You to gather the perishing into Your family, and to do whatever You ask me toward that happening.

The Lord — He IS

 

This week, various events and lots of bad news leave me feeling small, an insignificant spot in a huge universe. Today’s word humbles me too for in studying that God is Lord I realize how ‘small’ is exactly how I should feel!

This Hebrew word is YHWH with the best guess it is pronounced “Yawheh.” The Hebrew people were leery of saying it in case they violated the commandment about taking God’s name in vain so they used “Lord” instead, the small capitals indicating it was not “adoni” meaning “master” but YHWH meaning “self-existing one”. It appears almost 7000 times in the OT and in every book except Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, and Esther. This name was revealed to Moses at the burning bush when he asked God for His name.

Exodus 3:13–15. Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

This passage reminds me of several wonders about God. First, He reveals Himself to His people. I remember the first time He walked into my life to stay with me forever. No burning bush, but I knew without any explanation that the Person called Jesus Christ is God who came to earth in human flesh to save me from my sin. It was light that replaced darkness, the most incredible experience!

Second, God sends people to do important things. They are not necessarily special people in any way. In this context, Moses protested concerning his inadequacies, but God did not let him get away with it. He was to lead God’s people out of bondage. The things God asks me to do are much less vital in my eyes, yet if God is asking it, then it fits into a plan that I cannot see and dare not say is unimportant.

Third, the Lord reminded Moses that he was not the only person in His kingdom as He named Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I need that reminder too. I’ve met some of the people of God that I consider pillars in the church, people like Elizabeth Elliot and John MacArthur and some well-known authors, yet found out that they are ordinary people too, with quirks and weaknesses like my own. These ‘pillars’ are in jars of clay; none of us are anything apart from the empowering of the Lord. All must admit to feeling small and when I feel small, it is because I am small.

A fourth thing that speaks to me from this passage is that God is the I AM, the One who exists. There is a connection between forgetting that and feeling small. Every time that it seems God is not here, not doing anything, not ‘alive and well’ I feel my inadequacy and need for Him. Yet He has not gone. He is the I AM. He exists. I need to remember His Name. He is the Lord, the One who IS, whether I am sensing His presence or feeling alone and without Him.

Moses protested that he could not do what God wanted him to do, but God rebuked him with a reminder using miraculous signs. Moses still balked . . .

Exodus 4:10–13. But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.”

At that, the Lord became angry and picked Moses’ brother to do the talking saying He would put the words in His mouth. I can relate to this too, letting my sense of smallness interfere with obedience.

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. So much can be said about the divine name and how it connects to God’s promises and His glory. He reveals Himself again and again in terms of this Name that His people would know and obey Him so they would “fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 28:58) The point is, when I feel small and alone, I need to remember what God has shown me about Himself during those times of feeling powerful and in His glorious presence. What I am in the dark needs to rely heavily on what the Lord my God, the I AM, has revealed to me in the light.