40 Days of Believing God – Day 35

A number of years ago, I was in Grand Rapids, Michigan for a meeting. To get home, I had to fly through Chicago. Late in the afternoon, I boarded my plane and took off for O’Hare Airport.

Not long after take-off, we were put in a holding pattern over Lake Michigan due to delays at O’Hare. So we flew around in circles waiting for a runway to open up. We waited. And waited. And waited.

Finally, the pilot announced we were returning to Grand Rapids, because we were running low on fuel. Once we were back in Grand Rapids, the plane was re-fueled and we took off again. This time we were cleared to land after about a 30 minute flight.

You may feel like you’re in a holding pattern today. The destination is clear. It’s not even very far away. You’re on the correct course, but God has you in a holding pattern. And just when it seems like the waiting should end–He seems to send you back, not forward.

You thought your marriage was getting better, but then it got worse again. Previous test results showed you were free of cancer, but the most recent test revealed it’s back. That sin that used to plague you–the one you finally gained victory over…it’s back. And just when you thought you were about out of debt, you lost your job and had to use credit cards to survive.

As if things aren’t bad enough, God is silent. You cry out to Him, but He doesn’t seem to answer.

Psalm 77:7-10 (in The Message) says:

Will the Lord walk off and leave us for good?
Will he never smile again?
Is his love worn threadbare?
Has his salvation promise burned out?
Has God forgotten his manners?
Has he angrily stalked off and left us?
“Just my luck,” I said. “The High God goes out of business
just the moment I need him.”

Ever feel that way? Just when you need God the most, He goes out of business.

The writer isn’t through though. He knows during times of confusion, when God doesn’t seem to be around, there’s only one thing to do.

“Once again I’ll go over what God has done, lay out on the table the ancient wonders; I’ll ponder all the things You’ve accomplished, and give a long, loving look at Your acts.”  (Psalm 77:11-12)

Could it be that God is calling you deeper into Himself and His word? If everything was already worked out, maybe He knows you’d feel less urgency to seek Him and remember all He’s done in the past. It’s happened to me before. God comes through and I go away. Maybe

Take some time to read through the mighty ways God moved in the Old Testament. Remember what He did for Abraham, for Moses, for Daniel, for Nehemiah, for Joshua, for Rahab and for Ruth. Spend some time in the four gospels to be reminded of how Jesus worked. Meditate on Ephesians 1:3-14 to let your position in Christ sink in.

You may also want to recall the ways God has worked in your life in the past. One of the great benefits of keeping a journal is reading through old journal entries of answered prayers and ways God worked in your life to meet your needs. If you don’t have a journal, let me encourage you to start one. It’s easy to forget the things God does. We need to record them.

Remembering what God has done in the past provides power to make it through the present.