Help is On the Way–Isaiah 65:24

Today’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 63:15 through Isaiah 66:24; 2 Kings 20:20-21; 2 Chronicles 32:32-33

I will answer them before the even call to me.  While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers! –Isaiah 65:24

Friends, we have a Heavenly Father who already knows our needs before we ask (Matthew 6:8).  I’ve experienced this many times in my life; times when God was working on the answer to my prayer months before there was a need.

This very thing happened yesterday…I’m always reading and preparing a day ahead for our Bible study.  Yesterday morning I was reading today’s scriptures and thought, “Lord, nothing stands out.”  So I put my Bible away and did other things.  Late in the afternoon I checked my email and saw a forwarded message from my friend Carol.

Can I be candid?  Many times when I receive forwarded messages (stories, jokes, “pass this on to 10 people” things) I delete them.  I just don’t have time to read them all.

I checked my email three or four times but didn’t delete or open Carol’s message.

Finally, I opened the email and began to read the story. I couldn’t believe it—the story was about a scripture in today’s reading!  Could God have answered my prayer for today’s study before I even asked?  I know this is a bit longer than my normal posts, but someone out there needs this lesson in faith—TODAY!  There’s also a song that the Holy Spirit brought to my mind as I read this inspiring story.  Friends, I encourage you to hold fast, believe God, help is on the way!

A Lesson in Faith

By: Tina Clark

This is a story written by a doctor who worked in Africa:

One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all we could do, she died, leaving us with a tiny, premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive; as we had no incubator (we had no electricity to run an incubator).  We also had no special feeding facilities.

Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in.  Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst (rubber perishes easily in tropical climates).

And it is our last hot water bottle!’ she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk, so in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles. They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways.

‘All right,’ I said, ‘put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts Your job is to keep the baby warm.’

The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle, and that the baby could so easily die if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.

During prayer time, one ten-year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our African children. ‘Please, God’ she prayed, ‘Send us a hot water bottle today It’ll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon.’

While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added, ‘And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she’ll know You really love her?’

As often with children’s prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say ‘Amen?’ I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything; the Bible says so.

But there are limits, aren’t there?

The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from the homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever, received a parcel from home.

Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator!

Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses’ training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door. By the  time I reached home, the car had gone, but there on the verandah was a large 22-pound parcel.

I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of  eyes were focused on the large cardboard box.

From the top, I lifted out brightly colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out.

Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored.

Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas – that would make a batch of buns for the weekend.

Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the…..could it really be?

I grasped it and pulled it out. Yes, a brand new, rubber hot water bottle.

I cried.

I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could.

Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, ‘If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!’

Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted!

Looking up at me, she asked, ‘Can I go over with you and give this dolly to that little girl, so she’ll know that Jesus really loves her?’

‘Of course,’ I replied!

That parcel had been on the way for five whole months, packed up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God’s prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator.

And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child – five months before, in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it ‘that afternoon.’

‘Before they call, I will answer.’ (Isaiah 65:24)

Friends, Hold Fast! Help is on the way!

© 2012 Dianne Guthmuller
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading:  2 Kings 21:1-9; 2 Chronicles 33:1-9; 2 Kings 21:10-17; 2 Chronicles 33:10-19; 2 Kings 21:18; 2 Chronicles 33:20; 2 Kings 21:19-26; 2 Chronicles 33:21-25; 2 Kings 22:1-2; 2 Chronicles 34:1-7; Jeremiah 1:1 through Jeremiah 2:22