Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. Psalm 25: 4 - 5

Suddenly

"And [King] Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because God had provided for the people, for the thing came about suddenly" (II Chronicles 29:36).

 Reading this passage about the resurgence of worship during King Hezekiah's reign, the word "suddenly" in this verse leaped out at me. How often we wait and wait and wait and it seems like nothing is happening or ever will happen. Our circumstances will never change; then suddenly everything changes. There's such hope in that word suddenly.

 I did a word search for the word "suddenly" in the ESV and found 38 usages, the majority of which have to do with calamity or judgment. We all know how suddenly tragedy can appear, and frankly, we've seen far too much of that over the last year and a half, so rather than dwell on the negative side of suddenly here, I want to focus on the positive instances associated with the word.

Prophecy about the coming of the Messiah:

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts" (Malachi 3:1).

 Heaven's response to the fulfillment of prophecy about the Messiah's appearance:

"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God" (Luke 2:13).

 The gift of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost:

"And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting" (Acts 2:2).

 Saul the persecutor of Christians called to be Paul an Apostle of Christ:

"Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him" (Acts 9:3).

 Prisoners for the sake of preaching Christ, set free:

"About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened" (Acts 16:16).

 Suddenly, everything can change for us, individually and/or collectively. Lord, give me the faith to trust that you can change anything, everything, suddenly for the better in ways I'd never dreamed, even in my wildest imaginings. And whether your deliverance seems slow or sudden to me, help me to trust that it's on time and exactly right, exactly what I need.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope" (Romans 15:13).

Daye Phillippo

August 2021