November 17


God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. Psalm 46:5


We might wish that God would not always wait till the break of dawn, but that is most often what He does. He watched the disciples rowing on the sea with a contrary wind, and came to them in the fourth watch of the night [Matthew 14:25]; that was just at the break of dawn. God allows us to go through things so that our trust and faith in Him grow – that is what He imparts by this process. We often focus on the end of the difficulty itself, but He sees the growth in our inner stature. He cannot leave us or forsake us – water would flow uphill before God would ever be unmindful of His children and not provide for us in our needs and distresses. Though it may seem a long time, hang in, for the intervention of God is just around the corner. In the 19th century, C.T. Studd had given up a fortune and become a missionary to China. His money ran out, and he prayed through the night for the answer to his need. In the morning the mailbag came, but it seemed empty. He shook it again, and out fell an envelope from an engineer named F. Crossley, who had been baptised with the Holy Spirit through Studd’s ministry back in England. Some 2 months before this, he had been praying and had received a command from God to send £100 to Studd in China. He had been unable to sleep because of the clear conviction that God was urging him to do this, so he posted the letter with the money the next morning. The letter was 2 months in the post, and arrived on the very morning when Studd so desperately needed it.