Embracing ‘Suddenly’: Trusting God’s Timing

Hey friend, 

I know, I know. It’s been a minute. A long one. And you know what? I can feel it all the way to the core of my being. Not being in the word every single day certainly has its impact. It takes a toll on me, and it’s not pretty. What’s funny is that I just so happened to catch a glimpse of the mini foliage I have sitting next to me on my desk. It’s wilted, and it’s hanging on for dear life. It looks exactly like how I feel, thirsty and in desperate need of nutrients. So now it’s time to pick up my Bible and dig into what it has for today. And I’m going to do so without beating myself up for not reading yesterday, or the day before that, or the week before that. I’m going to offer to myself what I love to extend to others: grace. I’m not looking backwards, and I’m not looking forward. I am simply going to rest in this very moment. 

Oh, how I needed that! Isn’t it so encouraging to be reminded that when others oppress you and cause you harm, there is a God in heaven who is observing their every move? Even the moves that you’ll never be aware of? He doesn’t just blindlyobserve without intervention; no, King David reminds us of precisely who God is. And can I be honest? I needed that reminder. I see so many reports that remind me of the Bible. Mainly the one that says, “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12, NKJV). I hear of so many circumstances of people being abused, mistreated, harassed, and discriminated against, and at times, it can be disheartening. I can’t dispute the fact that hearts have grown cold, and at times it seems they’re out and loud on full display. But I wan’t to, and boy do I want to, because I wish it weren’t so. “Don’t you see this, Lord?” Even though I know the answer before uttering my question. I can’t help myself, though, I can’t help but question if it’ll ever end for you, for me, for us. When will our avenger arise? When will he rebuke the enemy, the one intimidating, provoking, taunting, plotting, building cases, and scheming to harm? When? 

“Hear my voice, O God, in my meditation; Preserve my life from fear of the enemy. Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the rebellion of the workers of iniquity, who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows– bitter words, That they may shoot in secret at the blameless; suddenly they shoot at him and do not fear. They encourage themselves in an evil matter; They talk of laying snares secretly; They say, ‘Who will see them?’ They devise iniquities: ‘We have perfected a shrewd scheme.’ Both the inward thought and the heart of man are deep. But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; Suddenly they shall be wounded. So He will make them stumble over their own tongue; All who see them shall flee away. All men shall fear, And shall declare the work of God; For they shall wisely consider His doing” (Psalm 64:1-9, New King James Version). 

So they scheme, they plot, they lay snares, they shoot at the blameless without fear. They encourage themselves in an evil manner, saying We have perfected a shrewd scheme! And to us, it might feel that it’s going unchecked, unnoticed, without consequence, that he has forgotten us and that he is supposed to be keeping his loving eye on us. But fortunately for us, King David uses a word that I have grown to love and to look for with excitement because of the way it collides with my doubt; Suddenly. “Suddenly they shall be wounded,” it says. God shall shoot at them with an arrow; Suddenly. They will stumble over their own tongue. Their own words, the ones spoken in an evil manner, the ones they encouraged themselves with because they thought they were so perfect. Those words. They will stumble over their own tongue. King David’s tongue, on the other hand, became a means of escape for me. He used words like “shall” and “will,” not might, could, or maybe. He will, and he shall. 

And while we see “pending” on the delivery of “suddenly?” Fear God. Declare his work. Consider his doing because I saved the best for last, just as King David did. “The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and trust in Him. And all the upright in heart shall glory” (Psalm 64:10, NKJV). Be glad in the Lord, trust him, declare his work, consider his doing, fear him. Your suddenly will come. Because our God is not blind, he is not weak, he is not unable. No, he is the man of war. He breathes fire, and he carries both an arrow and a sword. 

He carries an arrow, for you, for me, for us. 

I’m now glad in the Lord in spite of evildoing. Join me, will ya? 

Declaring his work, 

iK