Loving Heavenly Father, I Cast My Cares Upon You. Please See Me Through My Struggles. Amen. When Delay Is Good. We Need To Learn To Wait In Hope, In Faith And In Praise. Delay Can Be For Good.

Worship:

Bible Text: Esther 6:1-10, Psalms 30:5

Esther 6

1. On that night could not the King sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the Chronicles; and they were read before the King.

2. And it was found written, that Mordecai had told to Bigthana and Teresh, two of the King’s Chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the King Ahasuerus.

3. And the King said, what honour and dignity hath been don’t Mordecai for this? Then said the king’s servant that ministered into him, there is nothing done for him.

4. And the king said, who is in the court? Now Haman was come into the outward court of the king’s house, to speak into the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.

5. And the king’s servant said unto him, Behold, Haman standeth in the court. And the King said, Let him come in.

6. So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, what shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour? Now Haman thought in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?

7. And Haman answered the king, for the man whom the king delighteth to honour

8. Let the royal apparel be bought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head.

9. And let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honour and bring him on hotseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour

10. Then the king said to Haman, make haste and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king’s gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken.

Psalm 30

5. For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning

OPENING PRAYER

Gracious Father, we give You glory and honour for the blessings of a new day. We are very grateful for the past six months and thank You for bringing us to the second half of the year in peace and joy. Kindly help us in the second half of the year to catch up on lost grounds and overtake the competition. Help our nation to overcome her various challenges and let us have cause to celebrate as a nation at the end of the year. Amen.

INTRODUCTION

We love to have our requests to be promptly answered by those to whom they are directed including God, our Creator. We hate delays and are generally impatient with those we consider slow and clumsy. We love speed stars, whether in athletics, education, politics and other endeavours of life. We love the racy rabbit and despise the plodding tortoise.

For some of us the microwave oven is old and outdated and we have devices that work faster. We want our orders processed very fast.

But we want to talk today about the good in delay or lateness as we often call it. I agree entirely that delay is more often than not a negative thing. However, we have examples from the scripture where God used delay to achieve great and awesome purpose. So, this message is about finding good in some of our delays. It is meant to encourage those who are waiting on God for one thing or the other. We need to learn to wait in hope, in faith and in praise.

MESSAGE

I want us to look at a few Bible stories to see the good in delay and so be encouraged that our current situation may be for our overall good.

The first story is from the Old Testament in the book of Esther.

Mordecai, Esther’s cousin and father figure exposed some men who wanted to assassinate the King. He was to be rewarded as is the custom but nothing was done for many years although the good deed was recorded. The Lord in Esther 6:1-10 made the King remember the good deed of Mordecai at the most appropriate time. The same morning, he was to be hanged was the day the King chose to honour him for his previous (long forgotten?) good deed. How did this happen? I want to believe that heaven (God) knew that Mordecai was going to need this favour one day and it was kept for the right time. We call it “Set Time“, “Due Season” “Season Of Life” etc.

There was a very popular slang or saying in America in the eighties “I owe you one“. I think it was made popular by one of their politicians. What it means is that “you have done a good thing for me and I need to reciprocate and I will”.

We are told in the scriptures that God does not owe any man. What that means is that God will always reward our good deeds, always! He does not forget; He only chooses to act when it is the best time to act. Hannah got Samuel at the right time of God. Eli was to be replaced and a new Prophet was needed. A good and faithful mother was required to bring forth the new Prophet.

Back to the Mordecai’s story, if he had been honoured at the time he performed his good deed, the King would not have been troubled in the night before he was to be hanged. Mordecai did not only receive honour, the entire Jewish community in Persia were saved from elimination. Delay can be for good.

Another story of delay in the Old Testament was the story of David and the Crown. He was anointed to be King in 1 Samuel 16 and nothing happened after. He did not move to the palace but remained at his duty post in the jungle looking after his father’s animals. Later he was invited to the palace to play music for the deranged King. All these periods were seasons of training for David. No wonder he was a very successful king, more than the one before and after him. The period of delay was period of compulsory and adequate training for the Palace.

We will take another example from the New Testament. Our Lord Jesus Christ on the way to Jairus’ house was delayed by the woman with the issue of blood. Matthew 5:21-43. The woman received her healing but Jairus’ daughter died before our Lord got to his house. However, Jairus and his household got a bigger miracle than they had envisaged. What they got was the miracle of restoration of life instead of healing from sickness. I believe that young girl got a total new life instead of just healing from a particular illness. The same thing happened in John 11 when Jesus was told about Lazarus’ illness. He delayed his visit to Bethany and Lazarus died and was buried. Jesus brought him back from the dead after four days bringing greater glory to God than it would have been if it was a recovery from illness. The Bible says many people were turned to God as a result of the miracle on Lazarus. John 11:45.

In conclusion, your delay or God’s seeming lateness may be for your good. Take a fresh God’s perspective and look at it as a positive thing. The failure might be to prepare you for better appreciation of success. The “one that got away” may not be for you. The toxic relationship that you so much cherish may lead to your destruction if you are not separated from it. Give your worries to God.

1 Peter 5:7– cast your care upon the Lord. Have faith in Him that all will turn out well for the praise and glory of God.

PRAYERS

1. Loving Father, I cast my cares upon you. Please see me through my struggles. Amen.

2. Father please visit me and my family in your due season. Amen.

3. Father, please at the set time, take our nation to the place of its rightful destiny. Amen.

4. Father, please perfect all that concerns us Your children in this month of perfection. Amen.

5. Our personal requests

Thank you

God bless you and good morning

Thank You Jesus!

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