Dear friends,

You call XYZ Company. The person comes on the line and says, “Would you please hold for a moment?” You place a call about a problem with a service to which you subscribe. You get the recording, “All our agents are busy at this time. We will connect you to the next available person.”  What comes to your mind? How do you feel?

I must admit, that my first thought is not complimentary.  I don’t feel very important.  I don’t feel valued.  Don’t they know I am a loyal customer?  Have you felt that way?

I’m afraid that I approach God that way many times. It happens when I don’t feel He answers my prayers quickly; when I get a different answer than what I want; or when I feel God is silent. This is a wrong assumption, but I feel I am not as important in God’s eyes. I am not really loved. I am not on His mind. I am not alone in my thinking, am I?

In the book of Habakkuk, the prophet raises some significant questions to God. He wants God to deal with the injustice and destruction he sees.  He asks God in 1:2-4 and verse 13, “How long” and “Why”.  You find Jeremiah doing the same thing in Jeremiah 12. David asks God in Psalm 13:1, “Oh Lord? Will You forget me forever?  How long will You hide Your face from me?”  In Revelation 6:10 you have the martyrs calling out to God, “How long before You judge and avenge our blood?”

Even our Savior beseeched the Father three times to let this cup pass from Him.  In His human nature He learned obedience by following the Father’s will, even though He had volunteered for this assignment.  He willingly shed His blood for the complete atonement for our sins.  He can identify with our weaknesses.

This is not the end of the story.  Look at Habakkuk’s response in Hab. 2:1, “I will take my stand at the watchpost … and look out to see what He will say to me.”  And in Hab. 3:18, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.”  David’s response is found in Ps.13:5, “But I have trusted in Your steadfast love, my heart will rejoice in Your salvation.” 

And God’s response to Habakkuk in 2:3, “If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.” 2:4 “… but the righteous will live by faith.”  And in 2:14, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

God’s response to Jeremiah in 12:15, “… I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them again each to his heritage …”

His response to the martyred saints in Rev. 6:11, “Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer …”

I have to remind myself that both God’s will and God’s timing are perfect.  I must remind myself that I am always on God’s mind.  His plan for me is good, perfect, gracious, and kind.  He is sovereign and all powerful.  He is able to complete what He began in me.

Thank you for your prayers and support during a very busy time.  We have just completed our couple’s retreat, and we are gearing up for our Golf Marathon and the Bernhard Langer Banquet in May.  We rejoice in what God has done this year.

May I go back to Habakkuk?  In 3:19 he says, “God, the Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the deer’s; He make me tread on high places.”  And in 2:20, “But the Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him.”  Our God reigns.