Comfort

The In-Between

What do we do while we are waiting on God to move?

Verse of the Day

‘Your promise revives me; it comforts me in all my troubles.’

Psalms 119:50

Today’s Devotional

It’s so interesting to me the things God puts in my path when I am asking Him questions and trying to study Him. It reminds me that if I want to hear from God, I need to be paying attention. Because most of the answers I have received recently have come in ways that I only noticed upon reflection. (Which requires that I take the time to reflect if I want to see certain ways God is moving.)

Yesterday I finished reading back through all of my journals from 2023.  It is my record of my relationship with God.  One thing that really stood out to me was something we touched on in the last devo: timing.  As I looked back over last year, God’s timing was always slower than I would have chosen, but always exactly perfect.  But that did not make the “in-between” time any more pleasant to experience.

When I look at today’s verse, I see a potential for comfort in the “in-between”, the time between my cry for God’s help and His answer, in the place where I am still in pain.  In today’s verse, it is not the answer to or resolution of my problem that gives comfort, it is merely the PROMISE.

Are we brave enough to trust God that much?

In my own private Bible time, God has sent me to the book of Job.  As I watched the video overview of the book (which you can find here), here’s what stood out to me:

  1. This world we live in is good, but not perfect.  God created the world with order and it is also wild. This world is beautiful and can also be dangerous.  We live in an amazing world that is not designed to prevent suffering.
  2. In the midst of suffering, there is always an invitation to trust God’s wisdom.

When we choose to trust in God’s wisdom, we are choosing to be comforted by the promise of God’s sovereignty in the midst of circumstances that we don’t like.

THAT IS FAITH.

Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is being confident in what we hope for, meaning that we are confident in God’s authority over everything we are experiencing, that He is working for our good even when it doesn’t feel good, and that HE IS GOOD even when our life seems like it is falling apart. I would also add that choosing faith in God in the midst of difficulties does not mean that we only experience positive emotions about it all. Jesus shows us that experiencing sadness and grief and frustration are part of the human condition. But in the midst of the sadness, do we still choose to worship God and praise His name?

For today, in the areas of our lives that need God’s comfort, let’s choose to accept the invitation to trust in God’s wisdom. Let’s choose to worship Him and praise Him because of who He is.

Journal Prompts

Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.

What has God promised that you are waiting for?

What does the “in-between” time feel like for you? What is your current experience?

Write out a prayer of declaration to God that you choose to trust His wisdom in the midst of your current difficulties.

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