Devotions

God saved me by appealing to my heart. As my faith and devotion to him grew, he began to impart knowledge and insight, an understanding of his ways, a desire to study and learn and grow even deeper in his wisdom. It’s a process of mentoring and maturing, one that will continue until the day I die, but it began with an appeal to my emotions, not my intellect.

I grew up in a family that knew nothing about Jesus. My mother and father were children of the darkness, immersed in a lifestyle of the occult, blinded to the light of Jesus’ wonderful grace. I vividly remember my mother’s eyes. They were cold and dark and empty. Emotionless eyes. There was nothing there: no love, no feeling, no compassion . . . nothing but blackness. Looking into her face was like staring into the pit of hell. At times I felt as if Satan himself was staring back at me through the barren, vacant eyes of my mother.

By the grace of God I was later able to lead my mother and father to the Lord. She became a powerful witness to God’s wonderful forgiveness, and for the first time I was able to look into her eyes and see the love and compassion that I had always longed for. The emptiness was gone, and in its place was pure beauty, a soul freed from hate and despair. She was a child of freedom.

How can we ever again be silent when we’ve witnessed the miraculous transformation of a soul set free from Satan’s grip? Once we’ve seen what Jesus can do in and through a life devoted to his will, we become forever changed. We begin longing for all the wisdom and empowerment that the Holy Spirit offers. We can’t stop ourselves from pleading on behalf of the lost, yearning to reach them with God’s message.

Nicky Cruz, internationally known evangelist and prolific author, turned to Jesus Christ from a life of violence and crime after meeting David Wilkerson in New York City in 1958. The story of his dramatic conversion was told first in The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson and then later in his own best-selling book Run, Baby, Run.     

As we wait in faith for him to act, we are to trust that he hears the cry of our heart: "My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord . . . that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful" (James 5:10-11). God is greatly moved by our tears and our groaning. He hears our weeping.

Jesus has given us an ironclad promise for these last days.

Christ left us a glorious promise to see us through the dark days the world is facing right now. He says to all who pick up their cross and follow him: "Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test them who dwell on the earth" (Revelation 3:10).

Jesus is saying, in essence, "You stayed true when you were tested by the world. You joyfully waited for me to work things out. Now, while there is confusion all around and the world is being tested, I will keep you from it. You have already proven you'll trust me, come what may!"

The shining witnesses for Christ in these last days are going to be a humble people who have proven him faithful. Not only do they proclaim, "God has everything under control," but they have actually let him have control of their lives. And everyone around them has seen it! The beauty of their testimony will draw many to the Lord. And their testimony is this: "He will not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord" (Psalm 112:7). Amen!

Troubling circumstances and fiery conditions can bring on confusion. At such times, our impatience begins to reason: "God must not have meant what he said to me. Or maybe the problem is my inability to hear his voice. Perhaps I heard him wrong in the first place. All I know is that what he told me and what I see developing don't add up."

When Saul moved ahead of God’s direction, he acted purely on logic and reason, not on trust. Listen to the string of excuses he gave the prophet Samuel for moving ahead of God's direction: "When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.’ Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering" (1 Samuel 13:11-12). Saul took matters into his own hands, doing what he reasoned was his only option. And it ended in sorrow.

This matter of waiting is so important that we find references to it throughout God's Word. Isaiah writes, "It will be said in that day: “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation" (Isaiah 25:9).

"For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, who acts for the one who waits for Him” (Isaiah 64:4).

Beloved, God's way is not the world's way. And the only way to gain godly experience is to wait patiently for him in faith. This sort of godly experience comes to those who are in communion with the Lord: "Knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope" (Romans 5:3-4).

I have never felt more helpless and anxious than when we moved back to New York City to start Times Square Church. Once again we were subject to the mercy of the schedules of landlords and building superintendents. When I had to wait, I became quite impatient and cried, "Lord, there's so much to be done in New York and so little time. How long do we have to wait?"

Yet time after time God patiently answered me, "David, do you trust me? Then wait."

You have heard the expression, "The hardest part of faith is the last half hour." I can testify from my years in ministry that the most trying period is always just before God works his deliverance.

There are serious implications when we don't wait for God to act. In fact, too often at such times we charge God with neglect. Saul did this when he impatiently acted on his own (see 1 Samuel 13). He was saying, in essence, "God sent me out to do his work but now he has left me to figure out how to make it all happen. Things are spinning out of control and soon it will be hopeless."

Does this describe your own thinking at times? We are commanded to wait on the Lord and trust him to work out our deliverance. But when our inner deadline passes, we grow angry at God and strike out on our own. By moving ahead of him we are declaring, "God doesn't care about me. Prayer and waiting don't work. His word can't be relied on."

Yet God has given us the responsibility to prayerfully wait on him. Trust him and say, "The Lord keeps his word, so I'm not going to panic. God has told me to wait for his direction — and I will wait. Let God be true and every man a liar!” In our trials, let us be found with that posture of heart. Not in panic, but with trust!  

Saul gave God a deadline! He didn't declare it, but in his heart Saul decided that if a word from above didn't come by a certain time, he would do whatever was needed to save the situation.

"And [Saul] waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. So Saul said, ‘Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me. And he offered the burnt offering" (1 Samuel 13:8-9).

Impatiently, Saul moved ahead, sinfully acting as a priest to make the sacrifice. Little did he know that Samuel was just around the bend. When the prophet arrived, he smelled the sacrifice Saul had offered and became incensed at the king's sinful impatience.

I am convinced Samuel was delayed because God clearly told him exactly when to arrive. You see, this was a test to see whether Saul would believe that God could be trusted.

God orchestrated it all because he wanted to give Saul a testimony of humble dependence on him in all things, especially in a dark crisis. But Saul failed the test. He looked at the worsening conditions and decided that something had to be done.

Can you picture yourself in Saul's situation? I hear him reasoning to himself, “I can't take this indecision any longer. God sent me to do his work and I'm willing to die for his cause. But do I really have to sit here doing nothing? If I don't act, everything will spin out of control.” Saul felt a gripping need to act immediately in the situation. And finally his impatience overwhelmed him.

This is where we fail at times in our walk with the Lord. At certain times, we have not waited for direction and have taken matters into our own hands because we do not like feeling uncertain and anxious. But the Lord is looking for total dependency. That means trusting him fully to do the right thing in the right way on our behalf. And it means patiently waiting on him not with anxiety but in a spirit of rest.