“[Elisha] said, "This is what the Lord says: I will fill this valley with pools of water. For this s what the Lord says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink." 2 Kings 3:16-17
There are probably times in your life when prayers just aren’t being answered in what we would consider to be a ‘timely’ manner; it has happened to me. The pandemic is still dwelling amongst us; what is the most recent variant? There was an assassination attempt on Haiti’s P.M. last week in Gonaives. Seemingly unanswered prayers can bring a sense of helplessness and hopelessness. The people that are being described in 2nd Kings had no water. No clouds in sight and not a drop of water could be found in the wells; that was hopelessness. Where do you turn when your faucet is dry, when your marriage is breaking up, when you kids are fighting, when medical bills are mounting, when your last booster shot isn’t any good for the newest mutant, when you can’t get tested for COVID, when you are turned down for another job or when your doctor tells you that you only have a short time to live?
The young boy in this photo attends the Bois Marchand School in Gonaives and there is no well at their school. Before my visit there ended, he followed me to the door and asked if I could do something to get a well at their school. He had been praying…but the cooks were still hauling water from a community well a few blocks away; every day. We need to be patient and remain faithful. The people in 2nd Kings were so certain that God would bring rain that they began to dig ditches…and continued to pray. Children attending the Lutheran School in Thomassique brought kindling wood to school, knowing that a Trinity HOPE feeding program would come someday and the cooks would need wood for the fire…and they faithfully prayed and it did come.
Our Triune God has a way of answering prayers, quite often in ways that we don’t understand at the moment but come to enjoy the blessing later on in life. Our Heavenly Father’s timetable is not one that we are familiar with or can understand. He provides in His time and in His way and we give thanks for taking care of us. Have you started to dig any ditches recently? Have you begun to store up firewood? Have you got a well? He is faithful.
Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you…Jay