Night Shift

"Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided..." (Ex 14:21).  I watched the movie in glorious technicolor and that was not the way Cecil B. DeMille portrayed it.  Charlton Heston's Moses spread out his staff and within minutes, the Children of Israel were passing through the Red Sea on dry land.  Instead, God worked through  the night to accomplish this awesome task.

The point is that God doesn't just work in the plain sight of day, he works the night shift as well.  Even up to this point, "the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud by day...and by night a pillar of fire..." (Ex 13:21).  Our "Father is always at his work..." (Jn 5:17), not just when we can see his hand in things or when things are obviously working out for our blessing.

Do you recall having read Daniel 10:12-13?  Let me refresh your memory: "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia."

Daniel prayed for help.  Twenty-one days went by appearing as if God had not heard and was not acting.  Daniel was in a dark time and he could not see the Lord's hand in action, but God was working the night shift, he had sent help but there was a battle to be fought against evil in order for his blessing to be delivered.

You are aware, are you not, that "our struggle is,,,against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Eph 6:12)?  While we wonder if God hears our prayers, he is sending out warrior angels to fight on our behalf.  God is always at work, as Jesus reveals, but his work is carried out in a cosmic battlefield that doesn't always allow for immediate responses.  And sometimes, his battle plan does not allow for us to have things just as we want but must be in accord with his plan.

Nonetheless, he hears and he answers our prayer - always: "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer..." (1 Pet 3:12).  Even though you may be in a dark time and you cannot see the work of the Lord, he is not limited to the day, he still works the night shift on behalf of his children.

So, as dark as it may seem, God is at work.  As hopeless as it may appear, God offers hope.  Even though night has come, God has not clocked out, he is working the night shift.  Jus' Say'n.