ALWAYS RIGHT ON TIME

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Hasten, O God, to save me; come quickly, Lord, to help me.

May those who want to take my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace. May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!” turn back because of their shame. But may all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; may those who long for Your saving help always say, “The Lord is great!”

But as for me, I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; Lord, do not delay.

Psalm 70

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

How do we approach God when we find ourselves in time of trouble?

Are we patient or do we tend to be restless, longing for God to come and take away our hardships immediately?

Our humanity tends to take us toward the latter form of behavior and this is amplified by a society today where everything seems to be fast and quick. We go through drive throughs to get fast food. We go to ATM’s to get quick cash. We drive faster and faster on our roads because we have to get to our destinations as quickly as possible. We look to get through express checkout lanes at stores. Delays are simply unacceptable and intolerable.

And so when we come into difficulty in life, it only figures that we would apply our “need for speed” to the help we desire from God. And as we do, we seem to expect that God will be right there for us at our beckoning call as if it would be improper for Him to make us wait.

I get a sense that David is in this frame of thought in the 70th Psalm. Look at his words again:

Hasten, O God, to save me; come quickly, Lord, to help me.

May those who want to take my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace. May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!” turn back because of their shame. But may all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; may those who long for Your saving help always say, “The Lord is great!”

But as for me, I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; Lord, do not delay.

“Hasten, O God.”

“Come quickly.”

 “Do not delay.”

David is not saying, “OK, God, I trust you and know You will act in Your perfect time and in Your perfect way.” He wants God to come and relieve him of his worries and issues right away. I think we end up doing the same thing.

Friends, do you really think God takes orders from us? Are we to command God as if He is subordinate to us?

I think you know the answer is no. But yet this is exactly what we do all too often. We demand God come on our terms when we should be submitting ourselves fully to His terms, standing by in faith knowing God is always working everything in life for our good – and sometimes that means we have to wait.

There was a great gospel song that said something like this: “God might not always be there when you want Him but He’s always right on time.” Indeed, God’s timing is perfect and He will act when He deems it necessary to do so. Our obligation is to have confidence in Him and trust that He will deliver us in accordance with His good and perfect will.

What difficulty are you facing today that needs immediate attention? Bring your needs to God in prayer but understand He might answer you prayer with the command, “Wait.” When He does, wait as He told you and anticipate the glory of the Lord revealed through the waiting because He is often doing His best work in us when we are in our most need.

We serve a God who is always right on time. Let’s bring Him praise and honor today and forever more.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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