Tuesday, September 28, 2004
My flight was scheduled to leave Newark airport at 3:30, but there was bad weather at my destination, so they said we were postponed until 4:30. Then they said, "We have no idea when we'll be able to leave." Then they said, "We think we'll go at 5:30." We left at 6:00. Of course, that gave us lots of time to memorize the menu in the little restaurant, to check out the restroom several times, buy lots of magazines, and count the designs in the carpet. Well, they had to cancel another flight, so this was a very full plane. As passengers were lumbering aboard with all their luggage, the word came from the cockpit. The pilot said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we are number two for take off. We've been assigned that position, but we only have twenty minutes to load this plane and take off, so would you please be seated as quickly as you can, wherever you can go." They knew we couldn't take off until everybody was seated, and it was chaotic. People were still trying to board the plane while the captain was pushing them verbally, the flight attendants pushing them physically. "Sit anywhere, we have to go. We're going to lose our spot and wait longer." The pilot came on again and said, "This is interesting folks. I know we said, 'Wait, wait, wait,' and then suddenly it's a rush." Well, we had waited for hours, and then suddenly, we had immediate clearance.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Miracle Rush."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Exodus chapter 12. This is where the Jews are spending their last night as slaves in Egypt. They've been through a long process of waiting, as God recruited Moses to be their deliverer, and then He dealt with Pharaoh. They'd been through ten plagues, and then things got worse before they got better. They are at the night of Passover, where they apply blood to their doorposts, and as the angel comes through, the firstborns of Egypt die while theirs are protected. In Exodus 12:11, they're getting ready to go to bed that night. Here are their instructions about the Passover dinner. "This is how you are to eat it: With your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hands. Eat in haste. It is the Lord's Passover." They really did need to be ready quickly, because when the Lord moves, it really happens fast. It says in verse 33, "The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country, so the people took the dough before the yeast was added and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing."
Like the night I had at the airport, they had a long wait followed by the big rush. There is some insight right here into what God might be doing in your life. He works quietly, invisibly, methodically. Meanwhile, we get panicky that we'll never take off, but when God has everything ready, fasten your seatbelt. Get to your seat quickly. The answer will come so quickly there won't even be time for the bread to rise.
You may think you're running out of time, but when God moves, it doesn't take much time. He delivered a nation in a night. It's like the old ketchup saying, "When I hit my ketchup bottle, first none will come and then a lot'll." That's how God works. It might take you a long time, but God can do in an hour what might take you 50 years. So don't panic just because it's taking longer than you thought.
The answer you're praying for may be about a relationship, or finances, your health, a child, a decision you have to make. Don't let the wait make you give up or push for your own impatient solution. The flight may be delayed, but it will go when your captain knows everything is ready on your end and on the other end. Get ready for that miracle rush when your captain will say, "We have immediate clearance. We're taking off."