“In The Nick of Time”
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Pastor Art Pena
Text: Isaiah 43:2, 18 &19
2″When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze….”
18 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland”.
Wow! I needed that! I rarely include actual Bible text on the ripple to conserve space, but not today. I would really like everyone – whether you have a Bible handy or not – to read God’s word and let His Spirit do His thing! On the verses above, God affirms His promise to Israel that He would always be there for them when everything failed. God’s assurance was that they could count on Him as their dependable, one and only savior!
Today, the same promise is intended for you – God’s people who put your trust in Him! For many, it could not have come at a better time! God knows, you and I need to hear it …… maybe more than ever in our lives! I have talked to a few people this week and everyone sang the same sad refrain. Invariably, everyone seemed to share a similar theme: “if God doesn’t do something now, I’m finished tomorrow”! “Finished” as in a figure of speech but you get the gist.
You can call it, bail-out, stimulus…..whatever….it doesn’t matter, many people say “just tack the word emergency on it and give it to me now”! Okay, for many, doesn’t that more or less characterize your predicament? Please read on.
Today, God takes pleasure in reminding us that He is always there during your worst of situations. But hold on – before we miss something in our haste, can we slow it down just a bit? Can we pause and consider God’s sense of timing? Now, if we trust him enough, we know that He knows what’s best for us, right? It’s important for us to learn more about His “when” as much His “how”.
Notice that I underlined pertinent words in our text – purposely to get this point across. You see, God does not open paths for us before we come to them. He does not provide help before it is needed. And guess what, He does not remove obstacles out of our way before we reach them either. Have you noticed? Just in the nick of time….just when we reach the proverbial “critical mass” of our need, God explodes in the scene and does His thing!
Many times, when we feel pressure building, we forget this truth and it explains why we continually worry about the difficulties we only anticipate. We expect God to open and clear the road ahead.
Moses and the people of Israel must have really felt this way when they were sandwiched between Pharaoh’s posse behind them and the red sea before them. “God what are you waiting for? Don’t you see, we’re in a tight situation here? Part the sea already!!!”
In one of my past “ripples” (“Get it Fresh Everyday”) we touched on the contrast between God’s timing on His manna delivery regimen and the Israelites’ reaction. God said, “you are going to get your daily delivery, so pick up just enough every time”.
But you know what they did and what happened. (If you don’t, it’s a good time to check out Exodus chapter 16). God makes promises and the way He chooses to deliver is step by step……only as the need arises. You must be in the floodwaters before He helps you get your nose above it. You have to go through something before He can deliver you through it! He promised deliverance, not the absence of hardships. He will not take you where He will not protect you! You can’t graduate to the next grade level without passing the tests and exams of the present.
And before I throw in anymore “one-liners”, let me just say that God does what He does, the way He does it because He doesn’t want you and me to lose our faith through the whole process. Would you agree that when life is “good”, many don’t seem to need God that much?
