“But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.” Psalm 69:13

There are some appointments in life that I really look forward to: dates with my wife, quality time with my children, missional community gatherings, preaching engagements, weddings that I officiate, mentoring sessions with young people, leadership meetings, and ministry training events. I love these kinds of appointments. But then there are those necessary appointments that I don’t look forward to… like going to the dentist. This is one of the most uncomfortable things for me. I hate the feeling of someone poking and prodding my teeth as I lay in a reclining position. Going to the dentist is grueling for me. Yet I understand that there are some appointments in life that are necessary even when they are uncomfortable.

A thorough study of God’s Word reveals that divine appointments are not choreographed to indulge our comforts; they are masterminded based on what is necessary for our good, the world’s need, and God’s glory.

God’s pruning process of sanctification is often an exceedingly uncomfortable work of grace in our lives. Just ask Jonah.

In Jonah’s story, God appointed the special calling on his life (Jonah 1:1-2) as well as the storm that engulfed him at sea when he ran from that divine calling (Jonah 1:4). God appointed the fish that swallowed him in misery (Jonah 1:17) and He subsequently appointed the authoritative command for the fish to release Jonah after he cried out in despair (Jonah 2:10).

God appointed the second chance for Jonah to redeem his failures (Jonah 3:1-2) and the revival that broke out as a result of Jonah’s obedience (Jonah 3:4-10). After Jonah isolated himself on the outskirts of the city in self-pity, God appointed the plant that grew up to comfort Jonah (Jonah 4:6) and then God also appointed the worm that attacked the plant and left him in discomfort (Jonah 4:7).

God appointed the scorching east wind that beat down on Jonah, leaving him faint and weak (Jonah 4:8). And just like a skilled surgeon performing open-heart surgery, God used this unpleasant moment to bring about a divinely orchestrated appointment where the anger and self-absorption in Jonah’s heart could be exposed, and then confronted by the balm of God’s healing mercies.

In all of these appointments, the underlying precept is that God never leaves us to ourselves. His appointments can be seen in our obedience and our disobedience. They are seen in the uncomfortable circumstances that swallow us as well as the jubilant moments of deliverance. His fingerprints are all over our second chance opportunities and our redeemed failures. They are evident in our greatest spiritual victories. They can also be traced in our seasons of defeat.

God’s appointments can be seen in the provisions that comfort us as well as the “worms” that sever those provisions at times which seem inconvenient to us. His appointments are painfully present in the “scorching” seasons that make us so faint that we are in anguish until the deepest roots of our self-absorbed lives are dried up by the heat of His transforming presence.

His pruning work is just as divinely appointed as His saving work. And if we are honest with ourselves, we will come to admit that oftentimes these two are one and the same—in all of God’s appointments, whether comfortable or uncomfortable, He is faithful to save us from ourselves.

Think about that as you abide in Him this week.

Divine appointments are not choreographed to indulge our comforts; they are masterminded based on what is necessary for our good, the world’s need, and God’s glory.

Questions for Reflection:

1. Read through the book of Jonah this week (four very short chapters). What stands out most about Jonah? What stands out most about God’s character?
2. In what areas or seasons of your life have you been able to relate with Jonah?
3. Where have you seen God’s uncomfortable, yet necessary divine appointments in your life? What has been the result of these appointments?
4. What does it produce in you to know that God is so relentlessly committed to your spiritual growth, that He will use even painfully necessary processes (Proverbs 3:12, Hebrews 12:6) to conform you more to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29)?
5. What can you do this week to be more aware of God’s fingerprints in every circumstance, not just the blissful ones?
6. Is there sin (self-serving patterns) in your life that God is trying to expose through your present circumstances? Spend time in prayer and ask God for wisdom to rightly interpret your present circumstances.

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The post God Is Faithful to Save Us… From Ourselves appeared first on Jimmy Larche.

We live in a highlight culture. Thanks to ESPN we don’t need to watch the whole game; we can just catch the best plays on Sportscenter. Thanks to YouTube we don’t have to watch the entire movie; we can just watch the most dramatic scenes and get the best quotes. Thanks to Twitter we don’t need to read the full story, we can just get the headlines. In our culture, the highlight reel is made to be significant while what happens in the meantime is deemed much less important. What if, with God, this is actually inverted?

You know we tend to think that what happens in the meantime of our lives is not as important as the highlights. So we go from highlight to highlight without giving much value to the more trivial things in life. It’s as if we are enduring the ordinary moments just to bide our time until the next extraordinary moment happens. But we need to understand that what happens in the meantime of our lives, where ordinary, daily life happens, is vitally important to God. Because that is where our character is shaped most.

See it is healthy for us to slow down, pause and reflect, and stop asking, “What am I accomplishing?” and start asking, “What am I becoming?” The highlight reel of your life reveals your successes and accomplishments. But what you do with the meantime, the trivial, the commonplace, and the ordinary days, determines who you are becoming.

In God’s Word we get a hindsight perspective of the importance of the meantime. In 2 Samuel 5:1-10 we see an epic highlight in David’s life. At 37-years old, he becomes king over all of Israel. But it’s important for us to know the rest of the story—to understand the meantime in David’s life. While in middle school, David is anointed by Samuel to become the next king of Israel. Then in high school he slays a giant named Goliath. That was the first installment of David’s highlight reel. It was all over ESPN and the YouTube video went viral. He becomes a mighty warrior in King Saul’s army. All the people begin to sing songs about David’s courage, his heroics, and his glory. He is well on his way to becoming what Samuel had prophesied over his life: Israel’s next king.

But things start to turn bleak. Instead of getting closer to becoming king, he seems to be driven further from his calling. Threatened by David’s popularity, King Saul becomes jealous of David and makes it his personal mission to destroy Israel’s up and coming hero. David is driven into obscurity for two decades as he moves around from cave to cave, running from this madman who wants to kill him. Friends betray him. His enemies gloat over him. Some people are afraid to associate with him because it might jeopardize their lives or ruin their reputation. This becomes the meantime of David’s life.

While in a cave, David wrote Psalm 142, which echoes the meantime of his life: “In the path where I walk they have hidden a trap for me. Look to the right and see: there is none who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me; no one cares for my soul.”

Have you ever found yourself in that kind of loneliness, pouring your heart out to God?

See many archaeologists believe that the Cave of Adullam was not too far from the place where David defeated Goliath in the hills of Judah. From the cave, he may even be able to see the valley in which this great feat took place. But this was just an antiquated memory now. David had come a long way from the Valley of Elah where that incredible heroic took place. Now he’s living like a fugitive—a refugee hiding in a cave. Maybe he begins to doubt his calling—that which Samuel had prophesied over his life. Maybe he struggles with his faith in God. He remembers back to the day when he was a giant slayer, a renowned warrior, and everyone was singing songs about him. And now he’s isolated in a cave. It appeared that David was getting further and further from his calling, when in actuality it was an essential process in his calling.

The cave was the most ordinary and mundane period in David’s life but it was also where he experienced the most pruning—that character shaping business that God is really big on. The cave is where God strips us of all self-sufficiency and endows us with His sufficiency. The meantime has great importance to our lives. It’s where our character and faith is shaped the most. What we do with the meantime dictates whether our lives will be defined by worship or whining. Whether we will grow or become bitter.

C.S. Lewis said, “We ought to give thanks for all fortune: if it is good, because it is good; if bad, because it works in us patience, humility, contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country.”

A.W. Pink beautifully described David’s meantime when he wrote: “It would have been a simple matter for God to have put forth His power, destroyed Saul, and given His servant rest from all his foes. And this, no doubt, is what the energetic nature of David had much preferred… Though we are impulsive and impetuous, God is never in a hurry; the sooner we learn this lesson, the better for our own peace of mind, and the sooner shall we ‘Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him’ (Psalm 37:7)… Though God’s delays are trying to flesh and blood, nevertheless they are ordered by perfect wisdom and infinite love. ‘For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come’ (Habakkuk 2:3).

Your meantime matters! As you abide in Him today, remember that God does some of his best work in caves.

God does some of His best work in caves. Caves remind us that what we are becoming is more important than what we are accomplishing.

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The post Waiting on God: The Meantime Matters appeared first on Jimmy Larche.