Written by Chuck Swindoll, these encouraging devotional thoughts are published seven days per week.
God can move in the heart of a king. He can move an entire nation. He can bring down the once-impenetrable Iron Curtain. He can change the mind of your stubborn mate. He can move in the affairs of your community. He can alter decisions of presidents, prime ministers, present-day kings, and national dictators. No barrier is too high, no chasm is too wide for Him, because He's not limited by space or time, by the visible or the invisible.
You and I are locked in a tiny space on this foggy lake of life called the present. Because our entire perspective is based on this moment in which we find ourselves, we speak of the present, the past, and the future.
A magnificent theological principle underscored again and again in the Scriptures is this: When God seems absent, He's present. Even when you think you have lost all, God uses it as an opportunity to awaken you to the realization that He is still in charge, as well as to bring you to your knees.
No matter what happens to you, remember "the pit from which you've been dug." You'll find the best place on earth is still pretty close to your roots. Like the country song reminds us, "Look how far I had to come, to get back where I started from."
At just the right moment, precisely as God arranged it, in keeping with a plan we might dub “Operation Arrival,” enter Messiah.
Read Luke 21:1–4; Ephesians 2:8, 9; Matthew 2:11
While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins.
“I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.” (Luke 21:1–4)
I love those words, "God is not unjust so as to forget." When no one else notices, mark it down, God notices. When no one else remembers, God records it so it won't be forgotten.
God gave you a mind. God gave you reason. God gave you a unique sensitivity; it's built into your spiritual system, and each person's system is tuned differently. God wants to reveal His will to you and to teach you while you are waiting. So while you are waiting, don't start searching for spooky stuff. We walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).
The king may rule the kingdom of Persia, and Haman may sign edicts with the king's official seal, but it is the Lord who is in control of this entire situation. And in the nucleus of His divine plan, Esther becomes invincible.
We get in a hurry when we don't wait on the Lord. We jump ahead and do rash things. We shoot from the hip. We run off at the mouth, saying things that we later regret. But when we have sufficiently waited on the Lord, He gets full control of our spirit.
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