Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Download MP3 (right click to save)
We were traveling a good distance and it took a couple of days. We needed to get there at a certain time, so we had a lot of drive-through meals, and therefore a lot of fast food. That means our eating decisions were pretty simple. We didn't make them on the basis of flavor, or nutrition, or elegant surroundings. No, they were based on whoever was the fastest, the closest to the road and whatever we could eat the most quickly while traveling. Now, our sons have a really high tolerance for fast food. But even they have their limit. After a couple of days of fast food, when it was time to get dinner, even they said, "Please, let's stop at a restaurant and eat. We know we'll have to slow down a bit. We know we'll lose time. But we'd had enough fast food. It's time for real food."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Good Stuff Takes a Little Longer."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke chapter 18. "Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said, 'In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the pleas, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.' For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!'"
Now, even though the judge didn't care, she just kept coming and she just kept asking. This was Jesus' parable, and let's make it very clear that the judge is in no way a picture of our God. That's not the God we know, the one who cares deeply enough to have His Son die for us. He actually welcomes us coming to Him. See, this widow is sort of a picture of what we ought to be. Jesus wants us to keep coming, "Always pray and don't give up" He says.
Maybe you feel like giving up because it looks like nothing is happening. He says, "Don't give up." He doesn't want us to give up. That might be the word He knew you needed to hear this very today. See, it could be why you're listening right now. He's telling us to keep coming to Him, not based on how we feel, or what's happening with our circumstances, but on the strength of His unchanging Son.
Listen to 1 John 5:14-15. "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us-whatever we ask-we know that we have what we have asked of Him." He hears, He responds as long as it's in the boundaries of His will. He's promised that. He wants us to ask Him; to keep coming to Him with our need. In fact we should ask more what He wants actually than what we want. And He wants us to keep at it.
God's not keeping an account on how many times you come. But He knows that our relationship is more important than we thought if we continue to develop that relationship by continually seeking His presence. He wants to give a closeness to us, and He often uses a waiting time to develop Christ like faith that we would never have if we had the answer right away.
Now, you and I don't want to take time for God to cook up a real answer. We'd rather pick it up at drive-through. But the quick answer is seldom the one that's the best answer. Keep bringing your requests to your Father, asking Him to change you while you're waiting for Him to change your circumstances. He's preparing you for His answer.
As my tired of fast food sons will tell you, the good stuff takes a little longer, but it's worth the wait.