Thursday Devotional - Daunting Delay

By the 6^th day marching around Jericho, I think I would have had my doubts about victory. My daunting and uncertain future might have overwhelmed me in fear, unless I truly kept my trust in God. Plus, couldn’t the delay give the people of Jericho more time to plan for our attack??? God was in charge, though, and what He had planned would work perfectly. The Israelites were called to follow His lead, His timing and His instructions carefully.

Joshua 6:15-21, 24-25        On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. ¹⁶ The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city! ¹⁷ The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. ¹⁸ But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it.¹⁹ All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”

²⁰ When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. ²¹ They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys…

²⁴ Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house. ²⁵ But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.

What a miraculous first victory in the promised land! God delivered totally! The Israelites were to act, but only after God moved first. They were also to act according to His specific instructions in His time.

There are times I get frustrated with God’s timing and His seeming delay (like the 3 times in an eight-month period the parental rights termination hearing was postponed for the birth parents of James and Sarah). God’s in control. He has a plan. He is always right on time. Waiting can be daunting, but it’s a time for God to grow our trust in Him.

Where are you and I still waiting for direction, a victory, or an answer to prayer? Let’s prayerfully, patiently, and expectantly trust His plan!

Alice

Our Journey to Adoption, Part VIII - Glory from Delay

The delayed process to adopt James and Sarah was frustrating. However, looking back, we can see how God received greater glory through all the delays! He made it more and more clear He intended us to adopt and that He was in control to bring it about.

Last March and April we continued to keep James and Sarah on weekends as we awaited the outcomes of other possible families for them. First, their biological mother said she appealed the termination, but she only thought she did (or wished she had, or wanted to believe she had). No record of an appeal was found, so the termination of the rights was not reversed.

Second, the uncle that said he was interested in the children didn’t have enough money to come up from Texas to even meet the children. He already had three of his own children, and didn’t have a permanent residence at the time. So, he relinquished his interest.

Third, one of James’ former foster families turned out not to be interested in adopting the children themselves, but wanted a relative of theirs to adopt. The relative didn’t have any recent connection to the children, so they were also scratched off the list. That left us and the current foster family.

God’s seeming delay is always for His purposes and His glory. As with the raising of Lazarus, Jesus delayed for God’s glory and the benefit of his disciples.

John 11:1, 3-6, 14-15  Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha… ³So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick." ⁴When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." ⁵Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days… 

¹⁴So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."

Can you think back over your past situations and see how God received greater glory and grew your faith through seeming delays? Let’s remember that as we face new situations that don’t seem to be working out in the timing we think is best.

Alice