This weekend we are thinking about trusting in God, even when we long for circumstances in our lives and the world to be different. We don’t necessarily understand why God apparently ‘delays’ His interventions, but the call is to wait and trust in His word and promises, knowing that ultimately He intends good for us and the world. The Reverend Howard Ketton has shared his thoughts on waiting for God to fulfil His purposes.
Not My Will, But Thine
I have recently been travelling on buses to appointments and finding myself having to wait for the next one to arrive. It’s very frustrating. Habakkuk, in his Old Testament Oracle, says: ‘How long, Lord, must I call for help but you do not listen?’ (Habakkuk 1 v.2)
Many today feel exactly the same as they plead with God for an end to the COVID-19 crisis, feeling that prayers are being totally ignored. I can understand these feelings and see people’s frustrations. However, there is a section in the New Testament where two people with long awaited expectations are suddenly flooded with joy as they have those same expectations met in full. Read their story in Luke 2 v.21-40. They were looking for a messiah, someone to set Israel free, not necessarily from the Romans but from Israel’s sin and failure to do God’s will. In this baby they saw all their promised hopes being fulfilled.
Our God is not one who keeps us waiting just because He can, but rather for other reasons, so that we might be better placed if we wait and learn of Him. Or sometimes we need to wait while we develop skills and education about our request. Whatever we are waiting and longing for needs to be part of God’s plan for us and His world, and it needs to be when He wills it rather than when we request it. Waiting is something that we find hard to do and we want it to happen in our time rather than His.
But know this: when God plans, He plans for the good of us all and with our best interests and concerns at heart. So when you get frustrated by His seeming inaction, do not cry out like Habakkuk, “How long O Lord, how long?” but rather, “Not my will but Thine, O Lord.”
We hope that you will be encouraged when you listen to Keith Getty and Stuart Townend’s song, ‘Every Promise of Your Word’