So [the widow] said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?”
1 Kings 17:18
RECOMMENDED READING: PSALM 13:1-6 “6 How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? forever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;4 Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.5 But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.6 I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.”
COMMENTS: We say and believe God’s timing is perfect, but does that seem so while enduring hardship or crisis? Not usually. God seems to come to our rescue way too late, doesn’t He? Well, we are not alone. David shared the same anxiety in Psalm 22:1 and even Christ felt that same sense of aloneness when repeated David’s words on the cross (Matthew 27:46). Yet, Christ demonstrate that same timing during His ministry. He waited until Lazarus die and was buried for 3 days become coming and raising him from the dead. Why did He wait? Why did He let David agonize awhile before coming to his aid? Why did He let Daniel pray 21 days before the angel arrived to answer his prayers (Daniel 10)?
As a parent don’t we delay response to our children’s requests. Things they want are better earned instead of gifts. Some things are best not given because of unseen consequences they can not comprehend. Some things require delay for a better time. A car shouldn’t be given to a 10-year-old or maybe even an 18-year-old. Being responsible to use such a gift wisely requires wisdom in timing even though gift may be decided by giver. So, what about gifts that have genuine and urgent need. Well, just because we can’t see or understand reasons for delay.
What about the delay in healing the widow’s son until he was dead. Elijah had taken from the widow her last meal in the face of starvation. But God had provided for both Elijah and the widow and her son. But now her son was dead, and she blamed Elijah for not providing another miracle.
We read the story in I kings 17 and don’t notice the length of time or delay as God prepares both Elijah and the widow for His answer. Even Elijah didn’t understand God’s delay but knew God well enough to trust Him and follow His instruction preparing for His answer. Do you know and trust Him while you wait? Do I? Well, the proof of our faith is during the wait. The witness of our faith to others is during the wait.
God’s answer maybe no or even not yet. Seldom is it yes, right now. When it is, we get exciting and so does everyone around us, but soon the excitement fades and so does our excitement and praise. When we allow the wait to draw us closer to Him and open our ears and heats to receive His instruction and fellowship and His love while waiting, then when His answer and miracle comes, we enjoy it with Him instead of being like the 9 lepers who ran away in excitement when Jesus healed them. Only one came back to thank Jesus.
Fellowship with us is a key aspect of God’s answer to our prayers. Another big one is orchestrating an answer and timing that brings positive impact on others we know and likely others we have never met. He not only knows the future but is already living there, so His is fully prepared with results of His answers.
After all, when we reflect on what will be most important 100 years in the future, what will be most important. Then gage our requests and concerns against that perspective. I dare say most of what we pray for has much less significance. But some things do, and those things are what we need to put deeper focus and prayer into. Agree? Maybe we need to ask Him what we should pray for and ask Him to give us a desire and passion to seek those things above all else? I think so, how about you?
I don’t mean we shouldn’t pray for healing. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead even though he would die again in a few years. But we shouldn’t neglect more important concerns to seek more immediate hungers and needs. Praying for healing of sickness should not diminish time spent praying for salvation for others and work God calls us to. But, when we are sick, it is hard to think about anything else, right? All we want is relief. Well, I both understand and have been there often too.
Our error and sin develop when we allow our disappointment and desperation, or frustration draw us from Him instead of closer to Him. When we draw closer to Him, He draws close to us and fellowship and healing and prayer really starts to blossom, and discovery begins to unfold for us. David ran to God while hiding from King Saul in a cave. So, should we. AMEN? AMEN!
“The Lord’s goodness surrounds us at every moment. “R. W. Barbour
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 229 blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present.
You may also access my facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/
My hope and prayer is, they will become a source of encouragement and tools in ministry for you.
Published by donsdevotions
Don McDaniel - Who am I?
Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever.
Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me.
I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private.
However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool.
Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry.
He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 .
I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward.
Don & Arlene McDaniel
In His Service,
Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials. View all posts by donsdevotions
donsdevotions 