AN ON-TIME GOD

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went; his head was covered and he was barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads too and were weeping as they went up.

Now David had been told, "Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom." So David prayed, "O Lord, turn Ahithophel's counsel into foolishness."

When David arrived at the summit where people used to worship God, Hushai the Arkite was there to meet him, his robe torn, and dust on his head. David said to him, "If you go with me, you will be a burden to me. But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, 'I will be your servant, O king; I was your father's servant in the past but now I will be your servant,' then you can help me by frustrating Ahithophel's advice. Won't the priests Zadok and Abiathar be there with you? Tell them anything you hear in the king's palace. Their two sons, Ahimaaz, son of Zadok, and Jonathan, son of Abiathar, are there with them. Send them to me with anything you hear."

So David's friend Hushai arrived at Jerusalem as Absalom was entering the city.

2 Samuel 15:30-37

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

On one of my recent posts, a friend left a wonderful testimony written by a grandparent (the friend’s first cousin) who had asked for prayers for her grandson. The boy had suffered a broken arm while on a cruise and was taken to a hospital in Miami for treatment but the family opted to drive home (a 15 hour drive) and have surgery completed there as there were pins that needed inserted in the boy’s arm. The hospital wouldn’t have been able to do the surgery for days due to the unavailablility of their orthopedic surgeon and this prompted the decision.

Sensing that something wasn’t right with this before they departed, the writer called her home orthopedic office where the son had already been seen two years prior for the same kind of break. On that call, the doctor told her that they shouldn’t drive the boy home in his condition for fear that he might lose circulation in his arm if things shifted, potentially resulting in an amputation.

This left the family in a quandary.

They couldn’t return him and yet the hospital wouldn’t be able to do the needed surgery for

But then…God entered the scene.

For the on call doctor back in their hometown, the doctor who the woman had never met, asked if he could have a few minutes to make a call…and less than 10 minutes later, he called back telling them to take the boy to a Miami children’s hospital where a surgeon would be waiting for them to perform the surgery. With this, the surgery was done immediately, allowing the family to return home safely the next day.

Well, there was a matter of gratitude that needed extended to the doctor in their hometown and as the mother and son went to the orthopedic clinic thank him, they discovered that the doctor was actually in the mother’s Sunday School class at church. The mother had made a prayer request through the class leader and the doctor was aware of it when she first called him. Needless to say, the mother was amazed at how the Lord had worked in the matter and this is what led her to share her testimony here on The Christian Walk. In that testimony, she proclaimed how “God is good all the time” for He had placed just the right doctor on call that day and led her to call him before following his instructions. She concluded by saying:

“…this gift from a Father that really takes care of us is one I will never forget”.

Friends, this was just one awesome example of what God does each and every day. Unfortunately, we don’t hear about every place where He moves in amazing ways but He makes it a habit to put the right people in the right places under the right circumstances and at the right time for the right purposes.

We truly do serve an on-time God.

Well as chapter 15 of 2nd Samuel closes, we see David also discovering this truth more than 3,000 years ago. You’ll remember that he had just ordered his priests, Zadok and Abiathar, to return to Jerusalem with the Levites and the ark of God. Once there, they were to listen in on any plans Absalom might have put together and then send word to David so he would be warned in advance.

We pick up with him after this and find him advancing to the Mount of Olives, noticeably disturbed by the events that were taking place. We read where he wept with his head covered as he walked along barefoot. His people were also weeping and mourning as they traveled with him.

Contributing to David’s disappointment and anguish was the report that his once trusted counselor, Ahithophel, had joined in with Absalom’s efforts to unseat his father. We see where this led David to pray to the Lord asking that Ahithophel's counsel be turned into foolishness. Soon, we will see how God answers David’s prayer as he will experience the Lord leading him just to the right person at the right time, just as he did with the mother mentioned earlier.

For as “David arrived at the summit” of the Mount of Olives, “where people used to worship God”, he encountered a man by the name of “Hushai the Arkite”. Standing before David, it was clear that he had torn his robe and thrown dust on his head, clearly showing that he had been mourning as well.

Sensing Hushai could be a key ally in his efforts to stave off Absalom, David seeks to send him back to Jerusalem so to frustrate the efforts of his betraying son Absalom and his equally disloyal counselor, Ahithophel. Given that Hushai was once his servant and Absalom seemed to try and recruit people who were once aligned with his father, David tells Hushai to offer himself as a servant to Absalom, knowing his son would take the bait. Then, once inside Absalom’s inner circle, Hushai would work with the two priests, Zadok and Abiathar, to relay Absalom’s plans to David. And with that, David's friend Hushai” went to Jerusalem and arrived just as “Absalom was entering the city”.

For David, Hushai was the right person at the right time under the right circumstances to serve the right purposes…all orchestrated by his on-time God.

As you read this today, maybe you have had a similar experience, finding yourself in the midst of circumstances which led you to pray to the Lord…and in response, He provided you the right person or occurrence at the right time under the right circumstances to accomplish the right purpose. Perhaps, you have had your own personal encounter with our on-time God.

If so, please respond to today’s message with your story so to bless and inspire others with your testimony. Maybe it will be a part of another message I write down the road or be used by someone else who needs to be told about a God who never fails us and always acts in accordance with His perfect will at His perfect time.

Today and every day, let us give thanks to the Lord for all that He has been, all that He is, and all He is yet to be.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.