WHEN THE LORD IS LATE

When the Lord is late, keep the faith. Is is your turn to be blessed today? Have you claimed the Lord's promises, but he does not seem to be coming through? Are you doing everything right, as best you can, living faithfully day in and day out, to no avail? Refuse to be discouraged, and insist in your soul upon staying focused on the Lord's provision. Think about Jairus, who had an urgent need. Jesus had promised to help, but then was hopelessly delayed, caught up in a huge human traffic jam.

Mark 5:22-42 tells about how urgently the Lord was needed, and how devastating the result of his delay. It was a life-and-death matter that was laid before the Lord, with an urgent time constraint attached. Somebody was dying! How disappointed Jairus must have been when he was notified that it was just "too late." It was all over! Why bother anymore? (Let me interject here, as a mom, that if there is anything even more urgent in my mind than a life-and-death matter for me, it is a life-and-death matter involving my child!)

Jairus must have been in a world of trouble at home, as a matter of fact, for even thinking that Jesus was the answer. What was he doing, out running around at a time like that, rather than being where he belonged, with his distraught wife at his daughter's bedside at her moment of passing? What a bad father; what a silly man! Yes, and Jesus looked silly, too. Everyone laughed when the Lord came in saying, "The child is not dead but sleeping." How utterly ridiculous!

Well, you know how this story turned out, and it almost seems trite to remember that for one little girl and her family, the Lord really was TOO LATE. But when he showed up, the result was even more dynamic than if he had been right on time. If it is your turn to be blessed, Precious, and yet the Lord seems far-away, learn from this example. Keep the faith, because your Savior will show up, and when he does, the result will be more dynamic than you have ever dared to hope or imagine.

PUT THE DEVIL IN HIS PLACE

SPEAK TO THE DEVIL! That's right, you heard me. Matthew recounts the manner in which the Lord Jesus, our role model, confronted the enemy of our souls. After a time of severe physical and emotional stress, Jesus had this confrontation with Satan:

. . . [Satan] said to [Jesus], “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. (from Matthew 4:9-11)

Notice the sequence here:

1. Jesus tempted by the devil
2. Jesus SPEAKS from scripture*
3. Satan flees the scene
4. Angels appear with tangible help

If there are areas of life where we can't seem to move ahead, maybe it is time to SPEAK OUT. Know and apply God's word to the source of the problem; speak truth to the devil himself, if need be. If the Lord Jesus Christ was not exempt from this type of confrontation, should I hope to avoid dealing with the devil? Should I politely ignore him and hope he'll go away?

In no way do I mean to make light of our adversary the devil, who roams around looking for prey. If the Lord Jesus himself did not confront Satan in his own power, but relied upon God's word to back him up, shouldn't you do the same? We are irresponsible Christians if we have the one and only weapon of defense in our spiritual arsenal, the Bible, available at our fingertips and refuse to learn to wield it.

Our mission in life is to go and do as Jesus did, under his power, being transformed by the renewing of our minds to look more and more like him on the inside! BE BOLD, rebuke Satan, put him in his place, and he will flee. Not until you forcibly move the enemy out of your way by direct application of God's word, will you be able to receive the help that God is waiting to provide.

*NOTE:

The Son of God LEARNED and CITED scripture. He did not rely solely on his divine nature, but throughout his ministry quoted the law and the prophets. To get scripture in your head, work your way systematically through the entire Bible. You ca find tools to help at http://www.backtothebible.org, or use the calendar link in the left sidebar of this blog. One way or another, be SURE to systematically work your way through the entire collection of writings known as the Bible.

FLASHING NEON ARROWS

Can God be found by everyone? That depends on what a person's looking for, on the motives of the heart, on what one wants to do with God when and if he is found. The second chapter of Matthew describes how on one hand God couldn't be missed, and on the other he just couldn't be found. It is still the same today. Some would say, "Look! You can't miss him -- he is RIGHT HERE!" while others undertake a Dragnet-style manhunt and come up with devastation that is worse than nothing:

And [King Herod] sent [the eastern scholars] to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. (verses 8-9)

The star was like a beacon to those scholars; they couldn't miss the spot! But we know what happened when Herod tried to find the same child the scholars couldn't miss:

Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region . . . (verse 16)

Maybe to you and me it seems like there are flashing neon arrows hanging over the place where Jesus is, but some of our loved ones seem to have searched relentlessly and come up with worse than nothing. When you encounter someone who "just can't find Jesus," encourage that person to carefully examine his or her motives, and to pray for honesty of deepest soul before God, who has issued an unconditional promise to all of humanity that, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13