Hearing His Voice #188

How good is a timely word!

Proverbs 15:23, NIV

A member of our group asked for prayer for her mother, who was suffering from a terminal disease and increasingly unable to walk. Several times a day, her mother stumbled and fell, and the family would rush to her side. Mother, daughter, and everyone else in the family needed God’s support.

After we prayed, we read through a preselected psalm, Psalm 145, with each person reading two verses aloud. When it came to the woman who had requested prayer for her mother, she began reading the verses that fell to her in the rotation: “The LORD upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down” (Psalm 145:14, NIV). She barely finished the words as the tears began to fall. God had directly acknowledged a personal need and promised to walk with this family through their trial.

God is the master of timely words. He knows the seating order of a group before they sit down and read. He knows years in advance which Bible passages and which devotionals will be read on a certain day, and He has a supernatural ability to coordinate them to speak directly into the events and issues of the reader’s life. He knows how to direct us out of our normal patterns to listen to a message, read a passage of a book, or even overhear a casual comment that speaks profoundly into our hearts’ desperate needs. He knows how to time His voice to get our attention and fit our circumstances.

Never hesitate to ask God for timely words. When you’re discouraged, ask Him for encouragement. It always comes, usually sooner rather than later. When you need guidance or wisdom, ask Him to express His will in the messages you will hear through your conversations, readings, and exposure to His Word. Whatever your need, He has something to say. And He knows the perfect timing to say it.

Lord, impress upon me the folly of seeing timely words as “coincidences.” You are the Master of my circumstances, and Your timing is impeccable. You coordinate the things I hear and see. Help me recognize Your voice in them.