Grace for What Is Still Unfinished - Your Nightly Prayer - April 10th

Your Nightly Prayer

Audio By Carbonatix

By Britt Mooney, Crosswalk.com

Your Nightly Prayer

Grace for What is Still Unfinished
Your Nightly Prayer
by Britt Mooney

TONIGHT’S SCRIPTURE

“The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me.” Psalm 138:8

SOMETHING TO PONDER

When my wife and I discovered we were pregnant with our first child, we experienced the joy and elation most parents do, all the good parts. We announced it to our family and friends. People wept with happiness with us. Next, we started preparing for the kid—clearing out a guest room, putting together a baby bed, finding the right doctors, and discussing what we wanted the delivery to be like. Our community blessed us with all kinds of clothes and appropriate accoutrements. We felt ready.

And then we waited. The baby books said it would get difficult in the last month or so, but reading about it is different than the experience. My wife struggled with feeling like it took forever for the baby to come, more frustrated as the due date neared. Then we passed it. My wife was constantly uncomfortable in one way or another. We did everything we could to hasten the delivery: eating eggplant, taking walks, and more. Did it help? Not sure. Either way, our son arrived when it was time. And the painful process was all worth it.

Many of us are in a similar situation with God’s promises. We praise him when he gives us a promise, and we find great joy in his goodness and what he’s going to do. We talk about it with family and friends. People enter the expectation with us. Then time continues to pass, and we don’t see the fulfilment yet. We get more uncomfortable. It becomes hard to carry the promise, to believe it will happen. Why has it taken so long? When will this struggle and frustration end? When will our longing for the promise be satisfied? These questions make us doubt our faith and even God himself.

Yet God is still working. He gives us grace and strength to endure. When we wait for God to move, it will always feel like he’s taking too long. But he is not slow, as we count slowness to be (2 Peter 3:9). He will act and fulfill in his timing and his way. Unfortunately, not all pregnancies contain such joyful stories, so the example may not be perfect. However, God is faithful and will do what he said he would.

In the meantime, we hold on to his Word, his goodness, and the grace to endure to the end when our joy will be complete.

YOUR NIGHTLY PRAYER

Heavenly Father,
Teach me to trust your promises when waiting feels long and heavy. Strengthen my faith when doubt tries to discourage me. Comfort me and lift my eyes when hope feels far away. Help me hold fast to your Word, remembering you are never slow but always faithful in perfect timing. And when you act, it will be more than worth it. Give me grace to endure the waiting with patience and joy, believing you will fulfill all you have spoken. Let my heart rest in your goodness.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.

THREE THINGS TO MEDITATE UPON

What is something you’ve waited for and received after a long time? Was it worth the wait?
What is something God has promised that you are still waiting for?
What are ways you can praise him in the waiting, for his character and being? How can you draw closer to him during this time?

Reflect on tonight’s prayer and share how God met you there. Join the Your Nightly Prayer discussion on the Crosswalk Forum.

Britt Mooney lives and tells great stories. As an author of fiction and non-fiction, he is passionate about teaching ministries and nonprofits the power of storytelling to inspire and spread truth. Mooney has a podcast called Kingdom Over Coffee and is a published author of We Were Reborn for This: The Jesus Model for Living Heaven on Earth as well as Say Yes: How God-Sized Dreams Take Flight.