In Your Delay, Remember God’s Faithfulness
By Rick Warren
“I will bless the Lord and not forget the glorious things he does for me” (Psalm 103:2 TLB).
When our dream is delayed, it causes us to forget many things. We tend to forget our dream. We forget what God has done in our lives and his goodness to us in the past. We forget that God is with us. We forget God’s power.
The Israelites made this same mistake in the wilderness: “They forgot the many times [God] showed them his love, and they rebelled against the Almighty at the Red Sea. But he saved them, as he had promised, in order to show his great power. . . . But they quickly forgot what he had done and acted without waiting for his advice” (Psalm 106:7b-8, 13 GNT).
It’s unbelievable how short their memory was! In Egypt, God sent 10 plagues on the Egyptians just to rescue his people, and the children of Israel forgot it just days later when they were at the Red Sea saying, “We’re all going to die!” They forgot what God had done. Then God did a miracle and opened the Red Sea. They walked through to the other side and immediately forgot that miracle and cried, “We’re going to die of thirst!” God miraculously provided water. The Israelites forgot that and complained, “We’re going to die because we have no food!” They were always forgetting.
But we shouldn’t be too quick to judge them, because we do the exact same thing. When a delay occurs in our lives, we start acting like God’s never done anything for us. Has God done things for you in the past? Sure he has. And you can count on him to do it again tomorrow and the next day and the day after that.
Instead of forgetting, you need to remember God’s promises. There are more than 7,000 of them in the Bible. Whenever you have a problem, find a promise like 2 Timothy 2:13: “Even when we are too weak to have any faith left, he remains faithful to us and will help us . . . and he will always carry out his promises to us” (TLB). The promises are always greater than the problems you’re facing!
God may not have fulfilled the promise in your life because he’s waiting on you. He’s waiting on you to learn to not fear, not fret, not faint, not forget. He wants you to learn that before he delivers you.
God can do things immediately, but he’s working on a larger agenda. The delays that come in your life do not destroy God’s purpose. They fulfill God’s purpose in your life.
“I will bless the Lord and not forget the glorious things he does for me” (Psalm 103:2 TLB).
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Talk It Over
What has God done for you that proves his faithfulness?
How has God been refining you in the delay of your dream?
What can you change about your attitude as you spend time in God’s waiting room?
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This devotional © 2017 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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