Easter has come and gone, and we’re starting week four of sheltering in place with a beautiful, sun-shiny day. I’ve been focusing on taking one day at a time during this coronavirus pandemic, but last Sunday (Easter) was probably my most difficult day since our quarantine began.
My husband, Chip, and I have been keeping a calendar of exercising, reading before bed, and a couple of other things. We mark each day on the calendar; I guess it’s much like giving your child a star for completing their homework. This has helped us to press ahead with good disciplines and to encourage one another.
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I got a little upset with God on Easter morning. I had been praying so fervently for God to show up big time on Resurrection Day. But from my point of view, nothing dramatic happened. The weather report called for a beautiful, warm day. Instead, it was cloudy, rainy, and cool. The virus was still spreading and people were still dying at an alarming rate.
I wanted God to do a miracle on Easter so that people would see and believe in Him. I wanted the church to shine like a city set on a hill so that we, as God’s children, would again be the salt and light of the world. I’m not exactly sure how I wanted that to happen; maybe a light bursting forth like an explosion from all the church buildings and God’s Spirit falling upon unsaved people. Then I realized that no one was in the church buildings on Easter morning. We were scattered all over the nation in our homes. Hmm! Like the believers in Christ during and after Jesus’s crucifixion.
Did the Lord not answer my prayers? Did the Lord do something in the hearts of people that I don’t know about? Did a multitude of people believe in Jesus as their Savior as they tuned in to on-line Easter services?
Did God not answer my prayers? Maybe He did.
As it rained on Easter morning, this passage came to me from Isaiah 55:
“As the rain and snow come down from Heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread to the eater, so is My Word that goes forth out of My mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
This is a promise! When God’s Word is preached, heaven pours out His life and His divine power on us.
As I listened to my son preach his Easter sermon, I thought about how God is up to something in the silence while wonder why He doesn’t do something dramatic to show people that He is almighty God! The ruler and creator of all.
But then, I remember, He already did something dramatic, didn’t He?
He did that on the first Easter weekend, when Jesus died for all people and took all the evil and sin of their lives on Himself. Christ rose to life on that Easter morning, but all our sins were left dead, never to rise again. That’s the greatest miracle of all time.
My miracle did happen on Easter. I know, because my Savior lives. I don’t need to know all the details and I don’t need to see some big “miracle.” By faith, I claim His promises and keep my eyes pointed toward heaven.
So, as we begin a new week at home, I pray that my eyes will stay focused on Jesus. Let me not cry out for miracles as much as I cry out for God to be glorified through me and all believers, for the gospel to be spread throughout the land by His faithful ones, for God to bring many into His kingdom and bring healing to this world.
I’m okay with waiting; I’m okay if I don’t see big answers yet. I’m content in the presence of God each day and all my hope is completely on Him. This is what it looks like to wait well.
Father, help me to wait well.
Theresa Ingram’s desire is for all women to know their value in Christ and to have a foundational hope in God. Her series, Precious In His Sight, helps women understand that they are fully forgiven, deeply loved, and have great worth because of their relationship with Christ.
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Theresa Ingram
Theresa Ingram has a passion to see women transformed as they learn to see themselves as Christ sees them. Theresa has taught and mentored women in the local church for over 25 years. She is a graduate of Fairmont State University, the mother of four grown children & 12 grandchildren, and resides in San Jose, California, with her husband Chip.
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