Our Daily Bread - July 7
Prayer Eggs / By:Elisa Morgan Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.
Habakkuk 2:3
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Habakkuk 2:1–3 (NIV):
1 I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. 2 Then the LORD replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.
Just outside my kitchen window, a robin built her nest under the eaves of our patio roof. I loved watching her tuck grasses into a safe spot and then hunker down to incubate the eggs. Each morning I checked her progress; but each morning, there was nothing. Robin eggs take two weeks to hatch.
Such impatience isn’t new for me. I’ve always strained against the work of waiting, especially in prayer. My husband and I waited nearly five years to adopt our first child. Decades ago, author Catherine Marshall wrote, “Prayers, like eggs, don’t hatch as soon as we lay them.”
The prophet Habakkuk wrestled with waiting in prayer. Frustrated at God’s silence with Babylon’s brutal mistreatment of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, Habakkuk commits to “stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts,” to “look to see what he will say to me” (Habakkuk 2:1). God replies that Habakkuk is to wait for the “appointed time” (v. 3) and directs Habakkuk to “write down the revelation” so the word can be spread as soon as it’s given (v. 2). What God doesn’t mention is that the “appointed time” when Babylon falls is six decades away, creating a long gap between promise and fulfillment. Like eggs, prayers often don’t hatch immediately but rather incubate in God’s overarching purposes for our world and our lives.
Today's Hymns:
Keep On Believing
In His Time
Scripture to Respond:
Romans 8:24-25 (NIV)
24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Psalm 62:5 (NIV)
5 Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.
Reflection:
When we are stranded and evil seems to reign with no way out, would you keep waiting patiently with faith in God, trusting that God will lead us out of distress?
How would you strive to complete the tasks entrusted by God while waiting?
Prayer:
Dear God, when I’m waiting, please help me to keep trusting that You will act and You will lead us to victory. Whether in or out of season, I’ll work hard to finish Your tasks!
Wong Wai Tung (Chief executive officer of The Great Wall Education Foundation) & Sam Chow (Administrative officer of The Great Wall Education Foundation) Translated by Esther Leung
