is for Quick.

But you, O Lord, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid! Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen! -Psalm 22:19-20

Activity: Plan a Race. Whether it is a foot race around the house, or a contest to say the alphabet the fastest, or both. Determine who is the quickest in your family.

One day while doing chores around the house I heard the front door open and these words, “Dad come quickly, Asher is hurt!” Words like these are a parent’s worst nightmare. When parents hear that our kids are in trouble, face physical harm, or are currently in anguish, it breaks our hearts, and we race to do whatever we can. That is what we want when we are in trouble or in pain. We want relief and we want it now.

Over and over in the Bible, God’s people are in trouble and cry out to Him for help. We read in Psalm 22, “O you my help, come quickly to my aid!” God has come to the rescue over and over. He rescued His people from slavery in Egypt. He saved them from starvation in the desert, He defended them from foreign armies by His angels. There were times when His help was needed urgently. When Daniel was in the lion’s den, I can imagine that his prayer wasn’t Lord, please shut the mouths of the lions whenever you get the chance. No, he needed help right away. The disciples on the boat in a raging storm didn’t slowly wake Jesus and ask that He take his time, but maybe do something about the wind and the waves. They pleaded with Him to do something now unless He didn’t care whether they drowned.

We too need God’s help. We can’t seem to get our act together and every week we need forgiveness for our sins. And God is quick to act as He provides a pastor to forgive our sins each weekend. He is quick to remind us by His Word that He has always loved us and quick to point us to Jesus as the one who has loved us. Just like a parent, God is quick to help His children in need.

Advent, the season of waiting, seems like a strange time to talk about God’s quickness. God’s people waited a couple hundred years in exile before he came, that doesn’t feel very quick. And in a few years, it will have been 2000 years since Jesus last walked on earth, promising that he would come again. Why doesn’t he come quick now? He is not being slow, He is being patient. He is patiently waiting for more people to know His Son. He is patiently waiting for His church to grow even bigger so that there will be a larger crowd in heaven. God is quick to help us with what we need, but patient to come again for our own good.

PRAYER: Dear God, Thank you for being quick to save, but patient with your people. In Jesus’ name we pray, AMEN.