Hurry Up!

I had a near freak-out experience earlier this morning… Quite early… 2:00 AM to be precise!  I had gotten up to give my wife a scheduled dosage of one of her meds and when I proceeded to squeeze the applicator of medicine into her mouth, she promptly rolled it around her tongue and let it dribble out!  This happened a couple of times in a row and I was not a happy camper.  I was upset because I wasn’t sure how much of the medicine she actually swallowed.  That’s when it happened…

After the second time, I lost it and promptly plopped down on my bed while letting out a silent scream.  Hah!  I even got the dog’s attention on that one as he sat up on his pillow and gave me that “Are you serious?” look!  I was still half asleep and was planning on this being a quick get up, give the medicine and jump back in bed situation.  Five minutes max… right?  NO!  So I did the next logical thing and began to complain to the Lord (like it was His fault…) and asked why He wasn’t helping me right then and there!  I wanted to say “Hurry up Lord, I want to go back to bed!”  By then I was all primed to take advantage of the moment of weakness and slip right into a full-fledged pity party… after all… I deserved it… right?

Well, thank God that He had a better idea and my spiritual discernment stepped in and I caught myself before I could open my mouth again.  I quickly repented and slowly began to thank the Lord for His goodness and love for my wife and I.  Then I asked for directions.  And almost immediately He told me just how much more of the medicine I should give her.  When I returned to her bedside she swallowed the medicine without incident!  Praise the Lord!

But it wasn’t quite over yet!  As I went to return to the bathroom counter, I began to rehearse in my mind’s eye all the times Piper had rough nights and was tempted to worry that I may have given her either too much or too little medicine and that I could kiss my night’s rest goodbye!  But as quickly as those thoughts came in, I heard a familiar voice saying: “Are you going to trust my word or not?”

Well… Over the last nine or so years I’ve been around this block a time or two and didn’t require anymore prodding!  I instantly let go of the lies and agreed with Papa God and Piper slept soundly through the rest of the night and woke up peacefully – PTL!

Have you ever come to the place when it seems like nothing is working the way you need it to work?  Have you ever been tempted to cry out: “Hurry up Lord, I need You and I need You right NOW…”?  In Psalm 143:7 David made a similar cry to the Lord when he was facing a like situation in his life.  He cried out to the Lord declaring: “Hurry with your answer Lord!  I am nearly at the end of my rope.” (The Message Bible)  Another translation says: “Please hurry, Lord and answer my prayer…” (CEV) A few verses previous to this David prays: “I have given up all hope and I feel numb all over.” (Psalm 143:4 CEV)

In the midst of the current journey my wife have been on, I have witnessed firsthand those who have given up all hope of her healing and look to be numb.  In his Treasury of David commentary on the Psalms, Charles Spurgeon said in reference to verse eight of this Psalm that our sorrows make us deaf.  That thought made a lot of sense to me as there were many times where I would talk to these same folks and go away shaking my head because it seemed like they weren’t hearing a thing I said!  And later conversations actually proved that I was right!

In speaking of hearing the Lord in the morning, Spurgeon went on to eloquently state the verse in modern language saying: “there is one voice that can cheer me – cause me to hear Thy lovingkindness; for that music I would fain enjoy at once – cause me to hear it in the morning – at the first dawning hour…  Only God can take away from our weary ears the din (the noise, racket, babel, uproar, tumult, commotion) of our care, and charm them with the sweet notes of His love.”  

No wonder they didn’t hear with all that noise and clamor going on inside of them!  It also explains why they tended to stay away from us… I believe our joy and faith served to accentuate the noise of the sorrow they were needing to deal with.  After my experience last night, I can also attest to the validity of the noise that can block one from hearing from the Lord!  If I had let myself go into the self-pity mode being swamped with sorrow for my wife’s situation, I would have NEVER heard the Lord’s directions for me and my wife.

I could have cried out: “Hurry up Lord!” all night and I am pretty sure nothing would have happened!  Once I dealt with the noise that was trying to invade my personal space, I was able to HEAR His familiar voice and respond to His directions!

So what do you think?  What are you going to do when the noise of sorrow tries to invade your head or your heart?  Are you going to get impatient and cry out “Hurry up Lord!” or deal with the noise and listen for His voice?… which according to Spurgeon is cheerfully musical with the sweet notes of His love.  Hummm…. I know which way I like to go… Then I can say once more: “Gee, this stuff really works!”

Have a wonderful weekend, and as you do, keep asking yourself… “Whose voice and whose music am I expecting to listen to today?”