PASTORS' DAILY DEVOTIONAL
Jul
22
22
When The Sun Goes Down
Richard Waialeale
Scripture
Isaiah 37:14-15 (NIV) 14 Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord...
Isaiah 38:2-3 (NIV) 2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 "Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
Isaiah 38:2-3 (NIV) 2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 "Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
Observation
There are times in our lives when we see miracles, victories, and success. And like King Hezekiah, he prays and a miracle happens, God heals, God delivers, God provides - a miracle happens right in front of me. Then there are times when we pray, ask God to intervene and nothing happens. Parent who pray for child, that never get’s healed; a man prays that his business would recover from the recession and ends up losing his business; in ministry, in our lives we pray and pray, but nothing happens.. There’s this phrase that goes: “When The Sun Goes Down.” What I mean is events beyond your control forces you beyond your control. You do everything you feel God wants you to do and then the Sun goes down. I don’t know why God heals some and not others. I don’t know why God saves a marriage and then other times, the husband walks out. I don’t know why God delivers, we pray and we become victorious, miracles happen. But there are times when the sun goes down and we’re left standing there w/o answers. Think about a time when the sun set I your life and what it felt like, the frustration…. Then think about this… What would it be like to be that miracle. To seize the opportunity of that adversity. God doesn’t always answer our prayers, but He never ever waste our faith.
Application
The Good News is that God is always working on my behalf, even though it seems like my prayers are not working at all. There are times when God will do a miracle around me that I witness. Then there are times God does a miracle inside me – I am that miracle. It’s an incredible example of a persons faith in spite of the outcome. I didn’t see God’s miracle around me. I see God’s miracle through me. I want to pray that God would enable you to be the miracle.
Prayer
Father I want to be that miracle. It’s not rocket science, I simply must quote the miracle that’s already inside of me and that is Your Word. It’s in me and I just need to expose it to everyone. Isaiah 40:31 "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint." Psalm 34:19 "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all." Jeremiah 30:17 "For I will restore health unto you, and I will heal you of your wounds, says the Lord." Mark 11:24 "Therefore I say to you whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them." 1 Peter 2:24 "Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness-- by whose stripes you were healed." Jeremiah 17:14 "Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise." 1 John 4:4 ". . . . greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." 1 John 5:4 "For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcome the world, even our faith." Romans 8:31 "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us"