The Lord’s timing is perfect, but sometimes it doesn’t coincide with ours. Have you ever rushed ahead of Him and made things happen, only to discover, in hindsight, that He didn’t need your help? I’ve helped God a few times, regretfully. In our rat race world of pressure, schedules, and goals, we can quickly become obsessed with doing things immediately rather than waiting for God to move.
When the Lord wants to move quickly, He does; usually, something spectacularly supernatural happens simultaneously. Consider these examples of instances when God kicked things into high gear and pulled a “suddenly”:
1. At an extravagant banquet that King Belshazzar was hosting, much to his horror… Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale, and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way (Daniel 5:5-6 NIV). He was killed that very night, and his kingdom was overtaken.
2. At the birth of Jesus… Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." (Luke 2:13-14 NIV). At this, the shepherds watching the magnificent display that made the aurora borealis look like a sparkler, hightailed it to Bethlehem to see the infant, Jesus.
3. When Jesus rose from the dead…The women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me" (Matthew 28:8-10 NIV). Talk about a surprise encounter!
4. How’s this for supernatural? When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them (Acts 2:1-4 NIV).
5. When Peter's chains were rattled… The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists (Acts 12:6-7 NIV).
Finally, lest any of us think God cannot move suddenly, the best “suddenly” is yet to come!
6. But let me tell you a wonderful secret God has revealed to us. Not all of us will die, but we will all be transformed. It will happen in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, the Christians who have died will be raised with transformed bodies. And then we who are living will be transformed so that we will never die (1 Corinthians 15:51-52 NLT). Now that's suddenly!
© 2020, 2022, Chris Werre