Streams in the Desert - May 24
by L. B. E. Cowman and Jim Reimann
Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. (Genesis 21: 2)
The plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations” (Ps. 33: 11). But we must be prepared to wait on God’s timing. His timing is precise, for He does things “at the very time” He has set. It is not for us to know His timing, and in fact we cannot know it— we must wait for it.
If God had told Abraham while he was in Haran that he would have to wait thirty years before holding his promised child in his arms, his heart might have failed him. So God, as an act of His gracious love, hid from Abraham the number of weary years he would be required to wait. Only as the time was approaching, with but a few months left to wait, did God reveal His promise: “At the appointed time next year . . . Sarah will have a son” (Gen. 18: 14). The “appointed time” came at last, and soon the joyous laughter that filled the patriarch’s home caused the now elderly couple to forget their long and tiring wait.
So take heart, dear child, when God requires you to wait. The One you wait for will not disappoint you. He will never be even five minutes behind “the appointed time.” And soon “your grief will turn to joy” (John 16: 20).
Oh, how joyful the soul that God brings to laughter! Then sorrow and crying flee forever, as darkness flees the dawn.
~selected
As passengers, it is not for us to interfere with the charts and the compass. We should leave the masterful Captain alone to do His own work.
~Robert Hall
Some things cannot be accomplished in a day. Even God does not make a glorious sunset in a moment. For several days He gathers the mist with which to build His beautiful palaces in the western sky.
Some glorious morn— but when? Ah, who will say?
The steepest mountain will become a plain,
And the parched land be satisfied with rain.
The gates of brass all broken; iron bars,
Transfigured, form a ladder to the stars.
Rough places plain, and crooked ways all straight,
For him who with a patient heart can wait.
These things will be on God’s appointed day:
It may not be tomorrow— yet it may.
Reference
Cowman, L. B. E.; Reimann, Jim (2008-09-09). Streams in the Desert: 366 Daily Devotional Readings (pp. 205-206). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Categories: spiritual