WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.600 Welcome to Pomoja Ministry. There is a question 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:06.339 that becomes difficult to ask when you know God 00:00:06.339 --> 00:00:10.519 can intervene. If God can open the sea, why wait 00:00:10.519 --> 00:00:14.380 until Pharaoh is almost upon Israel? If God can 00:00:14.380 --> 00:00:17.940 calm the storm, why allow the boat to begin filling 00:00:17.940 --> 00:00:22.460 with water? If God can heal Lazarus, why remain 00:00:22.460 --> 00:00:25.980 where he is for two more days? If God knows what 00:00:25.980 --> 00:00:29.539 we need before we ask, Why are there seasons 00:00:29.539 --> 00:00:32.399 when the answer seems to come only after we have 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:35.560 reached the end of ourselves? We believe God 00:00:35.560 --> 00:00:39.140 is able. That is exactly what makes waiting difficult. 00:00:39.399 --> 00:00:41.740 Because when you believe someone cannot help 00:00:41.740 --> 00:00:45.259 you, you eventually stop expecting help. But 00:00:45.259 --> 00:00:48.719 when you know he can, every passing day raises 00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:53.939 another question. God, when? I prayed, when? 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:05.500 I cried. When? I kept worshipping. When? And 00:01:05.500 --> 00:01:07.760 perhaps somewhere along the journey, the question 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:11.739 becomes even more painful. God, are you going 00:01:11.739 --> 00:01:15.019 to come at all? This is where the mystery of 00:01:15.019 --> 00:01:17.739 divine intervention meets the mystery of divine 00:01:17.739 --> 00:01:21.540 timing. Because sometimes God moves immediately 00:01:21.540 --> 00:01:26.659 and sometimes he waits. Not because he has ceased 00:01:26.659 --> 00:01:29.939 being God. not necessarily because we have done 00:01:29.939 --> 00:01:32.700 something wrong, not necessarily because our 00:01:32.700 --> 00:01:35.719 faith is insufficient, and certainly not because 00:01:35.719 --> 00:01:39.099 our pain is insignificant. Sometimes scripture 00:01:39.099 --> 00:01:42.200 simply places us before a God whose timing we 00:01:42.200 --> 00:01:45.120 do not yet understand. And perhaps one of the 00:01:45.120 --> 00:01:48.280 deepest forms of faith is learning to trust God, 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:51.799 when we know he can move, but he hasn't moved 00:01:51.799 --> 00:01:56.700 yet. There may be no better place to begin than 00:01:56.700 --> 00:02:01.329 Bethany. Lazarus is sick. His sisters, Mary and 00:02:01.329 --> 00:02:04.909 Martha, send word to Jesus and listen carefully 00:02:04.909 --> 00:02:09.569 to their message. Lord, the one you love is sick. 00:02:10.150 --> 00:02:12.430 They don't even need to explain the relationship. 00:02:12.969 --> 00:02:16.969 The one you love. Surely Jesus will come. Surely 00:02:16.969 --> 00:02:20.610 love will move him immediately. Surely this qualifies 00:02:20.610 --> 00:02:23.050 for intervention. But John tells us something 00:02:23.050 --> 00:02:27.389 difficult. Jesus loved Martha. Jesus loved her 00:02:27.389 --> 00:02:31.509 sister, Jesus loved Lazarus, so he stayed where 00:02:31.509 --> 00:02:35.389 he was two more days. That almost sounds contradictory. 00:02:35.949 --> 00:02:39.330 He loved them, so he waited. We would expect 00:02:39.330 --> 00:02:43.030 scripture to say, he loved them, therefore he 00:02:43.030 --> 00:02:46.409 rushed to Bethany, but he doesn't. And by the 00:02:46.409 --> 00:02:49.830 time Jesus arrives, Lazarus has been in the tomb 00:02:49.830 --> 00:02:53.360 four days. Martha meets Jesus and says something 00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:55.699 that perhaps many believers have whispered in 00:02:55.699 --> 00:02:59.719 different words. Lord, if you had been here, 00:02:59.879 --> 00:03:02.979 my brother would not have died. In other words, 00:03:03.439 --> 00:03:06.259 you could have stopped this. I know your power. 00:03:06.599 --> 00:03:09.139 I know what you have done for others. I know 00:03:09.139 --> 00:03:12.620 what you are capable of. So where were you? And 00:03:12.620 --> 00:03:16.240 later Mary comes. She falls at his feet, and 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:20.039 she says essentially the same thing. Lord. If 00:03:20.039 --> 00:03:25.159 you had been here, two sisters, same wound, same 00:03:25.159 --> 00:03:28.460 question. And Jesus does something extraordinary. 00:03:28.939 --> 00:03:32.219 He does not rebuke their grief. He does not give 00:03:32.219 --> 00:03:35.439 them a lecture about having more faith. He sees 00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:39.379 Mary crying. He sees the people crying. And scripture 00:03:39.379 --> 00:03:44.039 gives us two words. Jesus wept. Never confuse 00:03:44.039 --> 00:03:47.639 God's timing with God's indifference. Jesus knew 00:03:47.639 --> 00:03:50.879 resurrection was minutes away and still entered 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:53.960 their grief. That means knowing the ending does 00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:56.620 not make God insensitive to the pain of the middle. 00:03:57.259 --> 00:03:59.419 Sometimes people will tell someone suffering, 00:03:59.919 --> 00:04:04.639 just trust God. And yes, trust him. But biblical 00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:07.400 faith does not require pretending something doesn't 00:04:07.400 --> 00:04:10.580 hurt. Jesus knew exactly what he was about to 00:04:10.580 --> 00:04:15.979 do and Jesus still wept. Then Jesus approaches 00:04:15.979 --> 00:04:20.180 the tomb and says, take away the stone. Martha 00:04:20.180 --> 00:04:23.740 immediately objects. Lazarus has been dead four 00:04:23.740 --> 00:04:27.180 days. There will be an odor. Human possibility 00:04:27.180 --> 00:04:30.480 is not merely weak now. Human possibility is 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:33.560 finished. This is important. If Jesus had healed 00:04:33.560 --> 00:04:36.759 Lazarus while he was sick, they would have celebrated 00:04:36.759 --> 00:04:40.959 healing. But now, Jesus is standing before a 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:44.560 tomb. The category has changed. They were asking 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:47.860 for healing. Now they need resurrection. And 00:04:47.860 --> 00:04:50.439 perhaps sometimes we become afraid because the 00:04:50.439 --> 00:04:53.860 situation has moved beyond the answer we originally 00:04:53.860 --> 00:04:57.319 expected. You prayed while there was still time. 00:04:57.740 --> 00:05:00.759 Then the deadline passed. You prayed while the 00:05:00.759 --> 00:05:04.279 door was still open. Then the door closed. You 00:05:04.279 --> 00:05:07.199 prayed while there were still options. Then the 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:10.160 options disappeared. And you begin thinking, 00:05:10.600 --> 00:05:14.790 now it is too late. But too late is a human measurement. 00:05:15.290 --> 00:05:18.050 We measure possibility according to what remains 00:05:18.050 --> 00:05:22.209 available to us. God is not confined to our remaining 00:05:22.209 --> 00:05:25.850 options. Jesus stands before what everyone else 00:05:25.850 --> 00:05:30.470 calls final and says, Lazarus, come out, and 00:05:30.470 --> 00:05:33.970 the dead man walks out. Now understand this carefully. 00:05:34.410 --> 00:05:37.930 This story does not mean every situation we lose 00:05:37.930 --> 00:05:41.899 will be restored exactly as Lazarus was. Jesus' 00:05:42.199 --> 00:05:45.259 miracle at Bethany is a particular revelation 00:05:45.259 --> 00:05:48.899 of his glory and authority over death. We should 00:05:48.899 --> 00:05:51.819 never use someone else's miracle to condemn a 00:05:51.819 --> 00:05:55.000 grieving person for not receiving the same outcome. 00:05:55.399 --> 00:05:59.839 But the revelation remains. Human finality does 00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:03.360 not limit divine authority. When we reach the 00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:06.879 end of what we can do, God has not reached the 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:11.420 end of who he is. Now return to Israel. God could 00:06:11.420 --> 00:06:13.819 have stopped Pharaoh in Egypt. He could have 00:06:13.819 --> 00:06:16.459 prevented Pharaoh from pursuing. He could have 00:06:16.459 --> 00:06:21.000 taken Israel another route. Instead, Israel reaches 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:26.339 the Red Sea. Water ahead. Egypt behind. Mountains 00:06:26.339 --> 00:06:29.819 and wilderness around them. No visible escape. 00:06:30.259 --> 00:06:34.680 And Israel panics. They ask Moses, was it because 00:06:34.680 --> 00:06:37.459 there were no graves in Egypt that you brought 00:06:37.459 --> 00:06:41.269 us to the desert to die? fear begins rewriting 00:06:41.269 --> 00:06:44.870 their interpretation of deliverance. Think about 00:06:44.870 --> 00:06:48.449 that. God has already delivered them from Egypt, 00:06:48.790 --> 00:06:51.509 but because they cannot understand the present 00:06:51.509 --> 00:06:54.730 moment, they begin questioning the deliverance 00:06:54.730 --> 00:06:59.009 itself that happens to us. A difficult chapter 00:06:59.009 --> 00:07:02.269 can make us reinterpret everything God has already 00:07:02.269 --> 00:07:06.389 done. Maybe I misunderstood God. Maybe he abandoned 00:07:06.389 --> 00:07:10.089 me. Maybe the promise wasn't real. Maybe I should 00:07:10.089 --> 00:07:13.470 have stayed where I was. But Moses tells them, 00:07:14.230 --> 00:07:16.910 Stand firm, and you will see the deliverance 00:07:16.910 --> 00:07:20.490 the Lord will bring you today. Then God opens 00:07:20.490 --> 00:07:23.949 the sea. Why there? Why not ten miles earlier? 00:07:24.310 --> 00:07:27.110 Why allow Israel to reach the place where there 00:07:27.110 --> 00:07:30.149 is no visible road? Perhaps because there are 00:07:30.149 --> 00:07:33.089 revelations of God that only become visible when 00:07:33.089 --> 00:07:37.180 human alternatives disappear. If Israel had escaped 00:07:37.180 --> 00:07:40.360 through ordinary geography, they could have explained 00:07:40.360 --> 00:07:44.180 the escape by geography. But when the road goes 00:07:44.180 --> 00:07:47.879 directly through water, nobody can confuse the 00:07:47.879 --> 00:07:51.120 source. There are moments when God permits us 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:54.660 to reach the end of our own map, and then reveals 00:07:54.660 --> 00:07:59.560 he was never limited to our map. Then there are 00:07:59.560 --> 00:08:03.540 the disciples. Jesus tells them, let us go over 00:08:03.540 --> 00:08:07.620 to the other side. They enter the boat. A furious 00:08:07.620 --> 00:08:11.300 storm develops. Waves break over the boat. The 00:08:11.300 --> 00:08:15.540 boat begins filling with water. And Jesus is 00:08:15.540 --> 00:08:19.199 sleeping. Think about the emotional contradiction. 00:08:19.680 --> 00:08:23.480 The storm is awake. Jesus appears asleep. The 00:08:23.480 --> 00:08:27.699 water is entering. Jesus is silent. Experienced 00:08:27.699 --> 00:08:31.560 fishermen are panicking. Jesus seems unbothered. 00:08:31.740 --> 00:08:35.279 Finally they wake him and say, Teacher, Don't 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:38.960 you care if we drown? Notice the question. Not, 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:43.159 can you stop the storm? But, don't you care? 00:08:43.559 --> 00:08:46.240 Because prolonged difficulty can eventually make 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:49.700 us question not God's ability, but God's heart. 00:08:50.299 --> 00:08:54.419 You prayed, nothing changed. You waited, nothing 00:08:54.419 --> 00:08:58.100 changed. The water kept entering, and eventually 00:08:58.100 --> 00:09:02.840 the heart whispers, does God care? Jesus rises, 00:09:03.460 --> 00:09:07.490 rebukes the wind, speaks to the waves, and suddenly 00:09:07.490 --> 00:09:11.710 there is calm. The storm that terrified the disciples 00:09:11.710 --> 00:09:14.590 responds immediately to the voice of the one 00:09:14.590 --> 00:09:18.110 who appeared to be sleeping through it. His silence 00:09:18.110 --> 00:09:21.950 was not powerlessness. His apparent inactivity 00:09:21.950 --> 00:09:25.429 was not lack of authority. And perhaps this is 00:09:25.429 --> 00:09:28.649 something we need to carry with us. God does 00:09:28.649 --> 00:09:31.830 not have to look anxious for God to be in control. 00:09:32.139 --> 00:09:37.799 We interpret urgency through panic. God doesn't. 00:09:37.879 --> 00:09:40.460 This may be one of the hardest things about divine 00:09:40.460 --> 00:09:43.779 timing. Our emergency does not always produce 00:09:43.779 --> 00:09:47.500 visible urgency in God. And that can be deeply 00:09:47.500 --> 00:09:51.960 uncomfortable. We have deadlines. God has eternity. 00:09:52.440 --> 00:09:56.000 We see today. God sees what today is connected 00:09:56.000 --> 00:10:00.019 to. We see the immediate consequence. God sees 00:10:00.019 --> 00:10:03.610 the entire road. That does not mean deadlines 00:10:03.610 --> 00:10:07.429 are irrelevant. It does not mean we become irresponsible 00:10:07.429 --> 00:10:11.509 and say, God will handle everything. Faith still 00:10:11.509 --> 00:10:15.970 acts wisely. Faith still prepares. Faith still 00:10:15.970 --> 00:10:19.889 works. Faith still seeks counsel. Faith still 00:10:19.889 --> 00:10:23.110 knocks on doors. But after we have done what 00:10:23.110 --> 00:10:26.470 we can faithfully, there are moments when the 00:10:26.470 --> 00:10:30.649 remaining battle is simply Can I trust God without 00:10:30.649 --> 00:10:33.909 controlling the clock? Because sometimes we don't 00:10:33.909 --> 00:10:37.769 merely want God's answer. We want God's answer 00:10:37.769 --> 00:10:42.950 by Thursday. We want God to move before the meeting, 00:10:43.549 --> 00:10:46.370 before the deadline, before the money runs out, 00:10:46.649 --> 00:10:49.730 before the person leaves, before the opportunity 00:10:49.730 --> 00:10:53.389 closes, before everyone sees what happened. And 00:10:53.389 --> 00:10:57.940 sometimes he does. but sometimes Thursday comes 00:10:57.940 --> 00:11:02.320 and nothing happens, then Friday, then Saturday, 00:11:02.740 --> 00:11:05.740 and suddenly our theology is being tested not 00:11:05.740 --> 00:11:08.820 by whether we believe God exists, but whether 00:11:08.820 --> 00:11:12.320 we believe God remains faithful after our preferred 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:17.279 deadline has passed. We often say delay is not 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:20.379 denial, and there is truth in that statement. 00:11:20.590 --> 00:11:23.950 But we need to handle it carefully, because sometimes 00:11:23.950 --> 00:11:27.690 the answer actually is no. Sometimes the door 00:11:27.690 --> 00:11:31.429 stays closed. Sometimes what we wanted never 00:11:31.429 --> 00:11:35.129 happens. Sometimes God's will takes us somewhere 00:11:35.129 --> 00:11:38.690 different from our request. So faith cannot simply 00:11:38.690 --> 00:11:42.429 mean, if I wait long enough, eventually God must 00:11:42.429 --> 00:11:46.409 give me exactly what I asked for. That is not 00:11:46.409 --> 00:11:50.720 surrender. Faith says something deeper. Until 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:54.259 God makes his will clear, I will not interpret 00:11:54.259 --> 00:11:57.860 waiting as abandonment. Maybe the answer will 00:11:57.860 --> 00:12:02.299 be yes. Maybe the answer will be no. Maybe the 00:12:02.299 --> 00:12:04.759 answer will look completely different from what 00:12:04.759 --> 00:12:09.580 I imagined. But while I wait, God remains God. 00:12:10.279 --> 00:12:17.210 That is the anchor, not the outcome. God. We 00:12:17.210 --> 00:12:20.110 call something late when it passes the time we 00:12:20.110 --> 00:12:23.389 expected it, but Scripture repeatedly shows God 00:12:23.389 --> 00:12:27.490 working beyond human deadlines. Abraham and Sarah 00:12:27.490 --> 00:12:30.970 reach an age where the promise appears biologically 00:12:30.970 --> 00:12:35.389 impossible. Israel reaches a sea. Lazarus reaches 00:12:35.389 --> 00:12:40.169 a tomb. The disciples' boat begins filling. Jesus 00:12:40.169 --> 00:12:44.070 reaches Calvary, and in each case human possibility 00:12:44.070 --> 00:12:47.820 becomes smaller. while dependence upon God becomes 00:12:47.820 --> 00:12:51.980 greater. Again, this does not mean God deliberately 00:12:51.980 --> 00:12:55.940 creates every crisis in our lives, nor should 00:12:55.940 --> 00:12:59.820 we romanticize suffering, but it does mean our 00:12:59.820 --> 00:13:03.240 inability to see another option is not proof 00:13:03.240 --> 00:13:07.360 that God has no options. Maybe that is the difference. 00:13:07.960 --> 00:13:11.279 Late means it did not happen according to my 00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:15.730 clock. Too late means nothing can be done anymore. 00:13:16.250 --> 00:13:19.049 And perhaps we should be very careful about telling 00:13:19.049 --> 00:13:22.629 Almighty God when nothing more can be done, because 00:13:22.629 --> 00:13:26.129 we know the limits of our ability. We do not 00:13:26.129 --> 00:13:32.250 know the limits of His. So what do you do between 00:13:32.250 --> 00:13:35.549 the prayer and the intervention? This may be 00:13:35.549 --> 00:13:38.850 the real question, because most of life is not 00:13:38.850 --> 00:13:42.360 lived at the moment the sea opens. Most of life 00:13:42.360 --> 00:13:45.820 is lived before it, before the answer, before 00:13:45.820 --> 00:13:49.659 the door, before the explanation, before the 00:13:49.659 --> 00:13:53.500 reversal, before you understand. And this is 00:13:53.500 --> 00:13:56.919 where faith becomes practical. You keep praying. 00:13:57.440 --> 00:14:00.639 You keep obeying. You keep doing what is right. 00:14:01.100 --> 00:14:04.440 You keep working where God has given you responsibility. 00:14:05.220 --> 00:14:08.980 You keep guarding your heart. You refuse bitterness. 00:14:09.340 --> 00:14:13.500 You refuse to manufacture an outcome. You refuse 00:14:13.500 --> 00:14:16.580 to call God unfaithful because he did not follow 00:14:16.580 --> 00:14:21.299 your schedule. And sometimes, you become quiet. 00:14:21.980 --> 00:14:25.399 Not because you have stopped believing. Not because 00:14:25.399 --> 00:14:28.440 you have surrendered to defeat. But because you 00:14:28.440 --> 00:14:30.799 have reached the place where you no longer have 00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:34.600 another argument to make. You have prayed. You 00:14:34.600 --> 00:14:38.320 have cried. You have asked. You have knocked. 00:14:38.779 --> 00:14:43.679 And eventually faith whispers, God, I trust you. 00:14:44.179 --> 00:14:46.480 There is a quietness that is not resignation. 00:14:47.080 --> 00:14:49.919 It is surrender. There is a silence that is not 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:53.320 emptiness. It is confidence. There is a stillness 00:14:53.320 --> 00:14:58.179 that says, I cannot move this, but God can. And 00:14:58.179 --> 00:15:01.159 perhaps now we can begin seeing why the season 00:15:01.159 --> 00:15:04.620 waiting after this one matters so much, because 00:15:04.620 --> 00:15:08.169 sometimes divine intervention happens. after 00:15:08.169 --> 00:15:13.049 quietness has taught us how to wait. One of the 00:15:13.049 --> 00:15:16.350 greatest mistakes we make is assuming, I don't 00:15:16.350 --> 00:15:19.570 see movement, therefore nothing is moving. But 00:15:19.570 --> 00:15:22.450 throughout scripture, God's activity frequently 00:15:22.450 --> 00:15:26.309 begins outside human awareness. Before Joseph 00:15:26.309 --> 00:15:29.970 reaches Pharaoh, Pharaoh has a dream. Before 00:15:29.970 --> 00:15:33.730 Esther enters the decisive moment, a king cannot 00:15:33.730 --> 00:15:36.870 sleep. Before Peter leaves prison, believers 00:15:36.870 --> 00:15:40.110 are praying in a house. Before the stone is rolled 00:15:40.110 --> 00:15:43.710 away, resurrection power has already done what 00:15:43.710 --> 00:15:46.990 no human being could do. What if some of the 00:15:46.990 --> 00:15:50.830 waiting seasons we call empty are not empty at 00:15:50.830 --> 00:15:54.090 all? What if pieces are moving that we cannot 00:15:54.090 --> 00:15:57.610 see? What if God is working in another person's 00:15:57.610 --> 00:16:00.649 heart? What if something is being prepared? What 00:16:00.649 --> 00:16:03.850 if something is being prevented? What if God 00:16:03.850 --> 00:16:07.450 is changing us before he changes the environment? 00:16:07.570 --> 00:16:11.250 We do not know and we should not invent. The 00:16:11.250 --> 00:16:15.110 invisible does not mean inactive. Silent does 00:16:15.110 --> 00:16:19.110 not mean absent. Waiting does not mean forgotten. 00:16:19.610 --> 00:16:22.830 And perhaps this is one of the hardest lessons 00:16:22.830 --> 00:16:26.529 of divine intervention. We often want evidence 00:16:26.529 --> 00:16:30.070 that God is moving. Something we can see, something 00:16:30.070 --> 00:16:33.289 we can hear, something we can point toward and 00:16:33.289 --> 00:16:38.210 say, there, God is doing something. But faith 00:16:38.210 --> 00:16:42.009 does not always receive evidence before it receives 00:16:42.009 --> 00:16:45.610 an invitation to trust. Sometimes nothing around 00:16:45.610 --> 00:16:48.570 you appears different. The phone has not rung. 00:16:48.970 --> 00:16:52.750 The door has not opened. The answer has not arrived. 00:16:53.230 --> 00:16:57.320 The situation has not changed. And yet, somewhere 00:16:57.320 --> 00:17:00.440 beyond what you can see, something may already 00:17:00.440 --> 00:17:04.500 be moving. Think again about Joseph. Joseph is 00:17:04.500 --> 00:17:07.359 in prison, and from Joseph's perspective, nothing 00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:12.539 has changed. Same walls, same confinement, same 00:17:12.539 --> 00:17:16.700 unanswered questions. But somewhere outside that 00:17:16.700 --> 00:17:20.339 prison, Pharaoh is sleeping, and Pharaoh has 00:17:20.339 --> 00:17:24.619 a dream. Joseph does not know it yet. The prison 00:17:24.619 --> 00:17:28.259 still looks exactly the same, but the event that 00:17:28.259 --> 00:17:30.740 will eventually bring him out of that prison 00:17:30.740 --> 00:17:35.579 has already begun. That is extraordinary. Joseph 00:17:35.579 --> 00:17:39.000 wakes up as a prisoner without knowing that somewhere 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:42.160 in the palace, God has already allowed a question 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:45.400 to arise for which Joseph carries the answer. 00:17:45.799 --> 00:17:49.440 The prison hasn't opened yet, but something has 00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:52.859 shifted. And maybe somebody needs to hear this. 00:17:53.069 --> 00:17:56.089 You do not have to see the movement for movement 00:17:56.089 --> 00:18:00.470 to exist. Again, I am not promising that every 00:18:00.470 --> 00:18:03.910 waiting season contains a hidden promotion or 00:18:03.910 --> 00:18:08.210 that every closed door will suddenly open. We 00:18:08.210 --> 00:18:11.470 cannot manufacture promises God has not made, 00:18:11.670 --> 00:18:14.569 but scripture gives us permission to reject one 00:18:14.569 --> 00:18:18.210 dangerous conclusion. Because I cannot see God 00:18:18.210 --> 00:18:22.599 working, God must not be working. You simply 00:18:22.599 --> 00:18:26.180 do not know that. There may be conversations 00:18:26.180 --> 00:18:29.579 you have not heard. There may be hearts being 00:18:29.579 --> 00:18:33.240 changed that you cannot see. There may be doors 00:18:33.240 --> 00:18:36.799 being prepared that you do not yet know exist. 00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:40.660 There may be dangers from which God is protecting 00:18:40.660 --> 00:18:44.119 you without ever showing you what he prevented. 00:18:44.460 --> 00:18:46.920 There may be something developing in you that 00:18:46.920 --> 00:18:50.029 will only become visible later. Or perhaps the 00:18:50.029 --> 00:18:53.950 work of God in this season is not primarily changing 00:18:53.950 --> 00:18:58.970 the environment. Perhaps He is changing you. 00:18:59.630 --> 00:19:04.450 And that too is divine intervention. We have 00:19:04.450 --> 00:19:06.970 spent much of this season talking about what 00:19:06.970 --> 00:19:11.390 God does around us. God moves them. God carries 00:19:11.390 --> 00:19:15.589 us. God stops what is coming. God reverses the 00:19:15.589 --> 00:19:20.390 battle. God opens doors. God makes a way, but 00:19:20.390 --> 00:19:23.069 there is another form of intervention that can 00:19:23.069 --> 00:19:27.869 be much quieter. Sometimes God intervenes inside 00:19:27.869 --> 00:19:32.190 you. The situation hasn't changed, but somehow 00:19:32.190 --> 00:19:36.569 you have. The thing that once terrified you no 00:19:36.569 --> 00:19:39.990 longer controls you. The uncertainty that once 00:19:39.990 --> 00:19:43.319 kept you awake no longer owns your peace. The 00:19:43.319 --> 00:19:46.500 person whose approval you once desperately needed 00:19:46.500 --> 00:19:50.380 no longer determines your worth. The door you 00:19:50.380 --> 00:19:54.220 once begged God to open no longer controls your 00:19:54.220 --> 00:19:58.099 happiness. The outcome you once believed you 00:19:58.099 --> 00:20:01.619 could not live without, you have finally placed 00:20:01.619 --> 00:20:06.180 into God's hands. Nothing outside changed, but 00:20:06.180 --> 00:20:09.460 something inside did. And maybe we underestimate 00:20:09.460 --> 00:20:12.569 how miraculous that is. because sometimes we 00:20:12.569 --> 00:20:16.730 ask God, change the situation. And God begins 00:20:16.730 --> 00:20:20.410 by changing the person standing inside the situation. 00:20:20.990 --> 00:20:25.390 We pray, God, remove the storm. And sometimes 00:20:25.390 --> 00:20:28.630 God says, I am going to teach you that you can 00:20:28.630 --> 00:20:32.250 sleep in the boat. We pray, remove the pressure. 00:20:32.670 --> 00:20:35.609 And sometimes God strengthens something inside 00:20:35.609 --> 00:20:39.710 us that pressure can no longer crush. We pray, 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.259 Give me the answer. And sometimes God gives us 00:20:44.259 --> 00:20:48.319 peace before he gives us explanation. That is 00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:52.099 intervention too. Paul understood something about 00:20:52.099 --> 00:20:55.380 this. He prayed repeatedly about what he called 00:20:55.380 --> 00:20:59.240 a thorn in his flesh. He wanted it removed, but 00:20:59.240 --> 00:21:03.160 the answer he received was, my grace is sufficient 00:21:03.160 --> 00:21:07.099 for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. 00:21:07.630 --> 00:21:11.390 God did not answer Paul in the way Paul initially 00:21:11.390 --> 00:21:15.869 requested, but God did answer. Grace entered 00:21:15.869 --> 00:21:19.349 the place where removal had been requested, and 00:21:19.349 --> 00:21:23.170 sometimes divine intervention does not look like 00:21:23.170 --> 00:21:27.009 extraction. Sometimes it looks like sustaining 00:21:27.009 --> 00:21:30.470 grace. You thought the miracle would be getting 00:21:30.470 --> 00:21:34.630 out, but the miracle became discovering. This 00:21:34.630 --> 00:21:38.859 did not destroy me. I am still here. I still 00:21:38.859 --> 00:21:44.319 believe. I still worship. I still love God. I 00:21:44.319 --> 00:21:48.579 still have hope. I still have compassion. My 00:21:48.579 --> 00:21:52.019 heart did not become bitter. My faith survived 00:21:52.019 --> 00:21:55.180 what I thought would destroy it. And suddenly 00:21:55.180 --> 00:21:59.220 you realize God has been intervening all along. 00:22:00.839 --> 00:22:03.880 Now we can return to the title of this conversation. 00:22:04.430 --> 00:22:08.309 when God arrives at the last moment. But perhaps 00:22:08.309 --> 00:22:12.089 we need to correct something. Does God really 00:22:12.089 --> 00:22:15.609 arrive at the last moment? Or does he arrive 00:22:15.609 --> 00:22:19.509 at the moment that only looks late to us? Because 00:22:19.509 --> 00:22:23.150 God was already at Bethany before Jesus physically 00:22:23.150 --> 00:22:26.630 walked toward the tomb. God was already at the 00:22:26.630 --> 00:22:29.869 Red Sea before Moses stretched out his staff. 00:22:30.140 --> 00:22:33.720 God was already in Joseph's story before Pharaoh 00:22:33.720 --> 00:22:37.200 dreamed. God was already in the boat before the 00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:40.960 disciples woke Jesus. The intervention became 00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:44.779 visible at a particular moment, but God's presence 00:22:44.779 --> 00:22:48.079 did not begin at that moment. That's different. 00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:52.220 Maybe what we call, God finally showed up is 00:22:52.220 --> 00:22:56.319 sometimes simply, I finally saw what God was 00:22:56.319 --> 00:23:00.160 doing. And that changes how we understand waiting. 00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:03.880 Because now I am not waiting for an absent God 00:23:03.880 --> 00:23:07.619 to arrive. I am walking with a present God whose 00:23:07.619 --> 00:23:11.660 timing I do not yet understand. That is a very 00:23:11.660 --> 00:23:14.880 different kind of waiting. I am not abandoned 00:23:14.880 --> 00:23:18.839 in the hallway waiting for God to find me. He 00:23:18.839 --> 00:23:22.880 is in the hallway. I am not alone outside the 00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:25.759 closed door waiting for God to come open it. 00:23:26.279 --> 00:23:30.900 He is beside me at the closed door. I am not 00:23:30.900 --> 00:23:34.039 walking through the valley hoping God eventually 00:23:34.039 --> 00:23:37.779 catches up. Remember what we discovered earlier 00:23:37.779 --> 00:23:40.480 in this season when I thought the footprints 00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:44.539 beside mine had disappeared. Those were the moments 00:23:44.539 --> 00:23:48.759 he was carrying me. So perhaps the greatest revelation 00:23:48.759 --> 00:23:52.519 of divine timing is not. God will eventually 00:23:52.519 --> 00:23:57.799 come. Perhaps it is. God is already here. And 00:23:57.799 --> 00:24:02.160 because he is here, I can wait. There is something 00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:04.960 else we must confront. Sometimes our greatest 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:07.799 source of anxiety is not the situation, it is 00:24:07.799 --> 00:24:13.720 the clock. How long? When? By what date? At what 00:24:13.720 --> 00:24:18.079 age? Before what deadline? We begin measuring 00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:20.980 God's faithfulness against calendars we created. 00:24:21.359 --> 00:24:25.259 By now, I should have... By this age, I thought 00:24:25.259 --> 00:24:29.519 I would, after this many years, surely. I prayed 00:24:29.519 --> 00:24:33.599 for this long. I have waited this long. And slowly, 00:24:33.619 --> 00:24:35.940 without realizing it, the clock begins judging 00:24:35.940 --> 00:24:40.119 God. But scripture says, my times are in your 00:24:40.119 --> 00:24:45.720 hands. Not. My times are in my anxiety. Not. 00:24:46.599 --> 00:24:49.119 My times are in other people's expectations. 00:24:50.099 --> 00:24:54.039 Not. My times are in the timeline I created when 00:24:54.039 --> 00:24:59.799 I was 20 years old. Not. My times are in comparison 00:24:59.799 --> 00:25:03.880 with somebody else's testimony. My times are 00:25:03.880 --> 00:25:08.099 in your hands. That does not mean we become passive. 00:25:09.319 --> 00:25:12.400 It means we stop allowing time to become evidence 00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:16.759 against God's character. Somebody else's breakthrough 00:25:16.759 --> 00:25:21.519 at 30 does not mean God forgot you at 40. Somebody 00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:24.519 else's door opening quickly does not mean your 00:25:24.519 --> 00:25:28.279 waiting has no purpose. Somebody else's testimony 00:25:28.279 --> 00:25:32.700 is not your calendar. And comparison is dangerous 00:25:32.700 --> 00:25:36.079 during waiting because it makes us ask, God, 00:25:36.700 --> 00:25:39.079 why are you doing it for them and not for me? 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:43.740 But you do not know their entire story, and they 00:25:43.740 --> 00:25:48.009 do not know yours. Faith does not require God 00:25:48.009 --> 00:25:52.650 to duplicate somebody else's journey. Faith says, 00:25:53.869 --> 00:25:59.069 my times are in your hands. Now let us go into 00:25:59.069 --> 00:26:02.170 the place where faith becomes difficult. What 00:26:02.170 --> 00:26:05.650 happens when the deadline passes? You prayed 00:26:05.650 --> 00:26:09.609 for the relationship and it still ended. You 00:26:09.609 --> 00:26:13.289 prayed for the opportunity and someone else received 00:26:13.289 --> 00:26:17.869 it. You prayed for the door. and it closed. You 00:26:17.869 --> 00:26:20.250 prayed for the answer before a certain date, 00:26:20.849 --> 00:26:25.509 and the date came and went. What then? Is God 00:26:25.509 --> 00:26:29.230 still faithful? This is where faith must become 00:26:29.230 --> 00:26:32.990 deeper than outcome, because if our faith only 00:26:32.990 --> 00:26:36.190 survives when God gives us the answer we expected, 00:26:37.170 --> 00:26:39.630 then our faith was ultimately anchored in the 00:26:39.630 --> 00:26:44.019 answer, not God. The three Hebrew men standing 00:26:44.019 --> 00:26:47.259 before the furnace understood this. They said, 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:51.500 our God is able to deliver us. That is faith. 00:26:52.359 --> 00:26:54.940 But then they said something greater. But even 00:26:54.940 --> 00:27:00.440 if he does not, that is surrender. God can. We 00:27:00.440 --> 00:27:05.400 believe he can. We ask him to. We trust his power. 00:27:06.039 --> 00:27:08.660 But our worship is not held hostage by the outcome. 00:27:09.460 --> 00:27:12.720 That is mature faith. And perhaps this is where 00:27:12.720 --> 00:27:16.279 divine intervention becomes mysterious. Sometimes 00:27:16.279 --> 00:27:19.400 God intervenes by changing the circumstance. 00:27:20.079 --> 00:27:23.519 Sometimes God intervenes by changing the direction. 00:27:24.160 --> 00:27:27.640 Sometimes God intervenes by carrying us through 00:27:27.640 --> 00:27:31.079 what did not change. And sometimes we will not 00:27:31.079 --> 00:27:34.559 fully understand what He was doing in this lifetime. 00:27:35.200 --> 00:27:39.259 Faith leaves room for mystery. Not because faith 00:27:39.259 --> 00:27:43.359 has no answers. but because faith knows God is 00:27:43.359 --> 00:27:49.000 greater than our answers. Jesus once told a parable 00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:51.900 about workers hired at different hours of the 00:27:51.900 --> 00:27:56.039 day, some early, some later, and some at what 00:27:56.039 --> 00:27:59.720 scripture describes as the eleventh hour, almost 00:27:59.720 --> 00:28:03.160 the end of the working day. There is something 00:28:03.160 --> 00:28:06.480 about the eleventh hour that speaks to human 00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:10.240 hopelessness. Because by the eleventh hour, you 00:28:10.240 --> 00:28:13.359 have probably stopped expecting anyone to come 00:28:13.359 --> 00:28:17.119 looking for you. The day is nearly finished. 00:28:17.980 --> 00:28:21.400 Other people have already been chosen. Other 00:28:21.400 --> 00:28:24.059 people have already been working. Other people 00:28:24.059 --> 00:28:27.980 seem ahead. And then, someone comes looking. 00:28:28.500 --> 00:28:31.900 Perhaps that is why scripture contains so many 00:28:31.900 --> 00:28:35.259 stories where intervention appears near the edge. 00:28:35.480 --> 00:28:39.359 Not because God enjoys terrifying his children. 00:28:39.460 --> 00:28:42.759 Not because every believer must be pushed to 00:28:42.759 --> 00:28:45.819 breaking point. But because scripture repeatedly 00:28:45.819 --> 00:28:49.880 reveals something about God's sovereignty. The 00:28:49.880 --> 00:28:53.680 clock does not intimidate him. The sea does not 00:28:53.680 --> 00:28:57.339 intimidate him. The tomb does not intimidate 00:28:57.339 --> 00:29:00.279 him. The furnace does not intimidate him. The 00:29:00.279 --> 00:29:04.220 prison does not intimidate him. Human impossibility 00:29:04.220 --> 00:29:08.740 does not. intimidate him. And therefore, when 00:29:08.740 --> 00:29:11.759 you reach a place where you genuinely do not 00:29:11.759 --> 00:29:15.740 know what happens next, you do not have to pretend 00:29:15.740 --> 00:29:19.539 that you do. You can simply say, God, my times 00:29:19.539 --> 00:29:25.460 are in your hands. There is a dangerous thing 00:29:25.460 --> 00:29:27.859 about reading Bible stories after we already 00:29:27.859 --> 00:29:31.259 know the ending. We know the sea opens. Israel 00:29:31.259 --> 00:29:34.819 didn't. We know Lazarus walks out. Mary didn't. 00:29:34.839 --> 00:29:38.839 We know Joseph reaches the palace. Joseph didn't. 00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:42.400 We know the storm becomes calm. The disciples 00:29:42.400 --> 00:29:46.579 didn't. We know Sunday comes. The disciples standing 00:29:46.579 --> 00:29:50.759 near Calvary didn't. We read their Friday knowing 00:29:50.759 --> 00:29:54.880 Sunday. They lived Friday without seeing Sunday. 00:29:55.160 --> 00:29:58.180 And perhaps that is where somebody is today. 00:29:58.599 --> 00:30:01.720 You are living a chapter whose next page you 00:30:01.720 --> 00:30:04.970 have not read. And because you cannot see what 00:30:04.970 --> 00:30:08.609 happens next, fear is trying to write the ending 00:30:08.609 --> 00:30:12.470 for you. Don't let fear become the author. Maybe 00:30:12.470 --> 00:30:16.029 the answer comes tomorrow. Maybe it takes longer. 00:30:16.589 --> 00:30:19.769 Maybe God answers differently than you expected. 00:30:20.369 --> 00:30:23.970 I cannot promise you which, but I can tell you 00:30:23.970 --> 00:30:27.289 what scripture allows us to know. The chapter 00:30:27.289 --> 00:30:31.069 you can see is not the entire book. And therefore, 00:30:31.420 --> 00:30:35.359 Do not let one unfinished chapter convince you 00:30:35.359 --> 00:30:39.640 that God has abandoned the story. So perhaps 00:30:39.640 --> 00:30:44.279 tonight, or this morning, or wherever this conversation 00:30:44.279 --> 00:30:48.039 finds you, you do not need another explanation. 00:30:48.759 --> 00:30:52.039 Maybe you have already asked every question. 00:30:52.500 --> 00:30:55.900 Maybe you have replayed every possibility. Maybe 00:30:55.900 --> 00:30:59.549 you have calculated every outcome. Maybe you 00:30:59.549 --> 00:31:03.430 have tried every door, and perhaps the invitation 00:31:03.430 --> 00:31:07.470 now is much simpler. Open your hands and say, 00:31:07.930 --> 00:31:11.769 God, I have carried this long enough. I have 00:31:11.769 --> 00:31:14.589 tried to understand it. I have tried to predict 00:31:14.589 --> 00:31:18.329 it. I have tried to control the timing. But today, 00:31:18.690 --> 00:31:22.230 I place the clock back into your hands. My times 00:31:22.230 --> 00:31:25.950 are in your hands. If you move today, I will 00:31:25.950 --> 00:31:29.710 worship you. If I must wait tomorrow, I will 00:31:29.710 --> 00:31:33.369 worship you. If you open the door, I will follow 00:31:33.369 --> 00:31:37.529 you. If you close the door, help me trust you. 00:31:37.930 --> 00:31:41.109 If you answer the way I prayed, I will thank 00:31:41.109 --> 00:31:44.789 you. And if your answer takes me somewhere I 00:31:44.789 --> 00:31:49.009 did not expect, give me enough faith to follow, 00:31:49.569 --> 00:31:52.109 because I am beginning to understand something. 00:31:52.970 --> 00:31:56.589 You do not have to arrive. You are already here. 00:31:56.910 --> 00:31:59.730 You were there when I prayed. You were there 00:31:59.730 --> 00:32:02.789 when I cried. You were there when the deadline 00:32:02.789 --> 00:32:06.049 passed. You were there when the door closed. 00:32:06.490 --> 00:32:09.890 You were there when I could not understand. You 00:32:09.890 --> 00:32:12.349 were there when I thought I was walking alone, 00:32:12.549 --> 00:32:15.130 and when I could no longer see your footprints 00:32:15.130 --> 00:32:19.509 beside mine. You were carrying me. So I will 00:32:19.509 --> 00:32:23.289 wait. Not because waiting is easy. Not because 00:32:23.289 --> 00:32:26.990 I understand. not because I know what tomorrow 00:32:26.990 --> 00:32:31.609 holds. I will wait because I know who holds tomorrow. 00:32:32.049 --> 00:32:35.769 My times are in your hands. My unanswered questions 00:32:35.769 --> 00:32:39.549 are in your hands. My future is in your hands. 00:32:40.029 --> 00:32:43.349 My family is in your hands. My purpose is in 00:32:43.349 --> 00:32:48.069 your hands. My life is in your hands. And perhaps 00:32:48.069 --> 00:32:50.750 divine intervention has never simply been about 00:32:50.750 --> 00:32:54.680 God arriving at the last moment. Perhaps the 00:32:54.680 --> 00:32:58.579 mystery is discovering. He was there the entire 00:32:58.579 --> 00:33:02.920 time. And that brings us somewhere extraordinary. 00:33:03.640 --> 00:33:06.700 Because we began this season asking, what happens 00:33:06.700 --> 00:33:10.400 when God intervenes? We saw him move what we 00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:14.420 could not move. We saw him help. We saw him carry. 00:33:14.859 --> 00:33:18.680 We saw him sustain. We saw him establish boundaries. 00:33:19.259 --> 00:33:22.900 We saw him reverse battles. And now we have discovered 00:33:22.900 --> 00:33:26.599 that even during the waiting, he was already 00:33:26.599 --> 00:33:30.299 there. But there is one final perspective we 00:33:30.299 --> 00:33:34.279 have not explored. Sometimes you cannot recognize 00:33:34.279 --> 00:33:37.240 divine intervention while you are living through 00:33:37.240 --> 00:33:41.339 it. Sometimes you only recognize it when you 00:33:41.339 --> 00:33:44.700 look back. You look at what should have destroyed 00:33:44.700 --> 00:33:48.420 you, what almost happened, what didn't happen. 00:33:48.569 --> 00:33:52.509 the door that mysteriously closed, the danger 00:33:52.509 --> 00:33:56.170 you escaped, the strength you somehow found, 00:33:56.349 --> 00:33:59.549 the season you thought would bury you, and suddenly 00:33:59.549 --> 00:34:03.529 the words of David become personal, if the Lord 00:34:03.529 --> 00:34:07.690 had not been on our side. Maybe that is the final 00:34:07.690 --> 00:34:12.650 mystery, not simply asking, God, where are you? 00:34:12.989 --> 00:34:15.849 But one day looking backward and realizing if 00:34:15.849 --> 00:34:19.690 God had not been there, Where would I be? That 00:34:19.690 --> 00:34:22.610 is where we are going in our final conversation. 00:34:23.150 --> 00:34:26.130 Conversation 10. If the Lord had not been on 00:34:26.130 --> 00:34:31.269 my side. Recognizing divine intervention. When 00:34:31.269 --> 00:34:35.690 you look back. Until next time. Stay prayerful. 00:34:35.969 --> 00:34:39.750 Stay faithful. Keep trusting God even when you 00:34:39.750 --> 00:34:43.150 cannot understand His timing. And as we prepare 00:34:43.150 --> 00:34:45.489 to close the mystery of divine intervention. 00:34:45.789 --> 00:34:49.030 Always remember, you are not alone.