Day 7: Divine Delay
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was two more days (John 11:5-6).
Lord, our God, the psalmist prayed, Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the skies…You, Lord, preserve both people and animals. How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! (Psalm 36:5-7).
Loving Savior, the apostle Paul reminded the Corinthian Christians (and us) that we live (walk) by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Our sight is often weak, clouded by our emotions, limited by our human experiences, straitened by our puny expectations. But faith calls us to see beyond the limits— to trust in a God of unfailing love, infinite wisdom, glorious power.
Faith calls us to confidence in the face of hopeless inevitability or apparent finality. Faith calls us to desire, not our own outcomes or expectations, but those of a God who knows when it's best to raise the dead or let them sleep, heal our infirmities or work through them, move our mountains or build our muscle.
Faith calls us to desire first and foremost the glory of the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not (Romans 4:17). Faith calls us to believe that the expression of divine love may be through divine delay, so that we can grasp with certainty— as did Mary and Martha— the promise of Jesus:
“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die" (John 11:25-26).
Faith calls us to honestly respond to Your challenge, "Do you believe this?"
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sov’reign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flow’r.
Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.
~ William Cowper ~ 1774
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