Before We Even Ask
Before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear. Isaiah 65:24
I am a planner. I begin every day by making a list of what I am going to accomplish. But as much as I try to envision the day ahead, it’s rare when things go exactly as planned. A call from a friend needing to meet and talk. A request for emergency babysitting for a sick grandchild. An email that needs immediate (and lengthy) attention. You know the old saying—“the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”
Of course, unlike me, God knows the future and only needs to plan for what He already knows will happen. The prophet Daniel discovered this after getting a vision he could not interpret. As he began to pray for understanding, the angel Gabriel appeared and informed Daniel, “At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you…” (Daniel 9:23 NASB).
Did you catch that? Daniel hadn’t even finished his prayer when God sent Gabriel down to answer his request!
The psalmist put this ability of God this way: “Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, You know it all.” (Psalm 139:4 NASB)
We can scheme and plan. But there is no way we can project exactly what will happen at any given moment. Because life happens. And those bumps in the road come when we least expect them.
But nothing takes God by surprise.
That fact is an immeasurable comfort to me when disaster strikes.
- I could lead my fifth graders on the unforgettable morning of 9-11 to trust God, reminding them that nothing that had just happened had caught Him unaware.
- I could encourage my daughter after having to leave her job that God not only knew it was coming, but also what still lay ahead. He had her back.
- I could hope in the long weeks after our little grandson Joseph was born, struggling to survive in the NICU at Children’s Hospital. God knew before that boy was a twinkle in his mama and daddy’s eye who he was destined to be. We could trust Him for his future.
God is not busy with damage control. He knows what lays ahead, and purposefully plans how those things will be used, to complete His purposes and reveal His glory. Nothing is spinning out of control. Nothing is beyond His redemption.
My Uncle Louis has a favorite response to life’s difficult moments: “What we have is not a problem. It is an inconvenience.” And he’s right: so much of life that seems disastrous at the moment, in the long run will work itself out. Or rather the Lord of time and circumstance will work it out.
I fret and fuss way too much, when I should know better. Before I can even call on His name, He will hear and answer. In Isaiah’s time, God’s blessing would come even before the people would ask for it. There are no surprise moments with God. And that’s someone we can trust with it all.
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