December 7, 2025 Devo

“It is time for you to act, LORD!” Have you ever prayed that prayer? Maybe, like the psalmist, you’re tired of seeing all the evil in the world, and you want Jesus to come back NOW and stop it all. Of course, that means that your own friends and family who are without Jesus would be swept away, too, but that probably didn’t cross your mind. Or maybe you’ve been without a job for a while, and you’ve been asking God for help. But now bills are piling up, and you’re starting to get desperate, and you’re DONE waiting. You want God to provide NOW! But if He did, you might just miss out on that job that is absolutely perfect for you. But that probably didn’t cross your mind either.
Perhaps you’ve been praying for something to change in one of your relationships. Maybe you’ve been asking God to make your marriage better, or your relationship with your kids better, or your relationship with your parents better. But tonight’s fight was the last straw. So, you demand God to do something. And maybe He could. But then again, maybe He’s waiting for their heart to melt a bit. Or maybe He’s waiting for them to have a breakthrough moment. Or maybe He’s actually waiting for YOUR attitude to change! But that thought rarely crosses our minds. Why? Because we’re not God.
It’s a bit dangerous when we start telling God how to run His universe. We don’t see nearly broad enough, deep enough, or down the road enough to do that. I don’t know about you, but I have a hard enough time managing my own life. I have no business whatsoever to try to tell God how to run His. He knows a lot better than I do what needs to be done and when it needs to happen. The last time I checked, He didn’t need me to coach Him on Divine Management Skills.
Rather than telling God that it’s time to act, we should try a different prayer. How about, “Act according to YOUR time, Lord.” That prayer reminds us that the Trinity has not yet become a Quartet, and we don’t run things. It’s also a prayer that reminds God that we trust Him, even when we’re not happy with the way things are. So go ahead and ask God for His intervention. Go ahead and let God know how sad you are to see the world the way it is. Go ahead and cry out to Him, telling Him how much you need His help, or His strength, or His grace. But let’s stop short of telling God how and when to do His job. His timing and His ways are ALWAYS better than ours! That’s God’s Word for you today.