Prayer, Praise and Promises 1/19

Author: Warren Wiersbe
Source: Prayer, Praise and Promises
Scripture Reference: Romans 12:19 Psalm 9:13-16

In His Time

Read Psalm 9:13-16

Have you ever looked at a beautiful rose and watched it slowly blossom day after day? Have you ever tried to help it open? If you try, you might kill it. God makes everything beautiful in His time. He causes everything to straighten out and line up according to His schedule. If you have a problem in your life with a person or a circumstance, rely on God to resolve it. "'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' says the Lord" (Rom. 12:19). One of the worst things we can do is to take judgment into our own hands.

The psalmist tells us in these verses, "Let God be the judge, the jury and the prosecuting attorney. He knows more about this than you do." The psalmist assures us that, in His time, God will catch those who are doing wrong. The nations will fall into the pit they have made. Sinners who have laid nets in the pathway will get caught in those nets. "The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands"(v. 16).

It encourages me to know that I don't have to devote my time or energy, even my inward concern, to wondering what's going to happen to all the evil in the world. God is going to take care of it. Of course, we as Christians should do our part to make this a better world. We are the salt of the earth; we are the light of the world. But we've been called to do something even more wonderful--to tell these wicked people that they don't have to go to hell. We have the privilege of witnessing to them and letting them know that they can be saved. Yes, let God be the Judge. Your job today is to be a witness.

Has someone wronged you recently? Resist the urge to judge that person. Instead, pray that God might use you to reach the offender.

Psalm 9:13-16 (New International Version, ©2010)

13 LORD, see how my enemies persecute me!
Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,
14 that I may declare your praises
in the gates of Daughter Zion,
and there rejoice in your salvation.

15 The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug;
their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
16 The LORD is known by his acts of justice;
the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.[a]
Footnotes:

1. Psalm 9:16 The Hebrew has Higgaion and Selah (words of uncertain meaning) here; Selah occurs also at the end of verse 20.