Cry Out While You Wait

You shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, 
and I will take sickness away from among you.
 —⁠Exodus 23:25 ESV

Your Challenge: Reflect on One of God’s Promises That You Choose to Believe Today Even as You Wait to See It Fulfilled

Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a “right now” attached to the end of every promise in God’s Word? If we could read a verse like Exodus 23:25 and say, “I will serve God right now, He will bless my bread and water right now, and He will take sickness away from me right now.”

As God’s children, we know that when it comes to many of His promises, even those that directly apply to us, we live in the tension of “already, but not yet.” His promises are as good as fulfilled. You can take them to the bank. But can you see how they’ve come to fruition? Not necessarily. Not yet.

But while we wait, what can we do? Notice our passage is one part us and two parts God. He is the only One who can bless us. He is the only One who can sustain us. And He is the only One who can eradicate all sickness (physical and spiritual) from our land.

There’s nothing sugary about a “Heaven rules” witness. You won’t hear me comparing the bold, confident confession of Heaven’s rule to a fairy-tale ending—at least not yet. —⁠Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, Heaven Rules

Believer, our job is to serve Him with increasing intensity while we wait for the ultimate fulfillment of His promises. And the way that we do that is to love Him wholeheartedly, to cry out to Him for mercy on behalf of our neighbors, and to share with them the reason for our hope that one day the “not yet” will be before our eyes.

How to Pray

Strengthen me to pray with the conviction
     that whatever I receive is thy gift,
     so that I may pray until prayer be granted;
Teach me to believe that all degrees of mercy arise
     from several degrees of prayer,
     that when faith is begun it is imperfect and must grow,
     as chapped ground opens wider and wider until
     rain comes.
So shall I wait thy will, pray for it to be done,
     and by thy grace become fully obedient. —The Valley of Vision*

* “The Divine Will,” The Valley of Vision (Banner of Truth), accessed September 9, 2020.