A Lifetime Of Favor
For His anger is but for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime. . . .
Psalm 30:5A NASB
We may suffer affliction or discipline, yet the Psalmist went on to say, “Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5b NASB).
In order for a tree or any plant to grow and bear fruit, its seed must first be planted in the ground and die. In order for fruit to appear in our lives, we must first be planted in the Word of God and then die to self. In the face of chastening, adversity, discipline, and affliction, fruit begins to appear.
This process, like steel which has been tempered and made strong by the heat of a furnace, makes us useful to God. But what baby is sent out to fight a battle? The baby must first grow in strength, in size, and in wisdom before he is able to fight. It is the same for those whom God wishes to use.
Joseph would never have been of use to God had he not been sold into slavery by brothers who hated him and wrongly accused by Potiphar, who put him in prison. Even after he had told Pharaoh’s cupbearer he would be restored to the king’s court and asked him to tell Pharaoh of his unjust imprisonment, Joseph had to wait two more years for release from prison.
All of this was God’s preparation for Joseph’s ultimate rise to a position of power and authority second only to that of Pharaoh himself, a position he used to feed all of Israel during a famine.
As we wait upon the Lord, God may sometimes seem slow in coming to help us, but He never comes too late. His timing is always perfect. How could it not be so from a God who favors us, as we do our children, for a lifetime?
Our Father and our God, please teach me to wait patiently on Your timing for my life. I want to follow the plan You have laid out for me. I want to be who You want me to be. Give me peace of mind while I wait for You. I cling to Jesus, the perfect example of patient suffering. In His holy name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).