Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, "O Lord, why have You done evil to this people? Why did You ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people, and You have not delivered Your people at all.”
Exodus 5:22-23
We have all experienced this so often that it seems to be an established pattern: things get worse before they get better.
Often when we pray, we expect God to respond in a certain way. We have it all figured out ahead of time, how He should respond. When He doesn’t respond the way we expect, we wonder if He heard us or not. We wonder if He cares at all. Doubts assail us.
Do you ever find yourself thinking, “Where is God? Why doesn’t He get with the program?” That should be a clue to what’s wrong. Whose program do we want? Our own? Or His?
We pray answers, not requests; essentially telling God what He should do instead of putting the problem into His hands and asking for His help.
But God is in charge, not we. Just as in Moses’ time, God has His own agenda. He is planning a greater deliverance than we could ever imagine. When things seem to get worse before they get better it may just be because He wants the answer to be one we - and others who are watching - will remember forever.
Lord, my times are in Your hands. You know what I face better than I do myself, and You know what You intend to accomplish through it. I know You always hear when I cry to You. Help me to be faithful as I entrust the problem to You and wait for You to respond according to Your own plan, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pastor Dan Giles