It’s another gloomy, windy morning, with angry gray clouds racing across a dark sky, pelting the city with rain.

I read the book of Isaiah this morning, and came across this verse: “Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit, and wickedness as with cart ropes, to those who say, ‘Let God hurry, let him hasten his work, so we may see it. Let it approach, let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come, so we may know it.’ “ – Isaiah 5:18-19

Interesting words, especially beside the New Testament call, “Come Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20) Certainly, we should be eager and prepared for the coming of our Savior, but it is quite another thing to demand that God hurry, so that we may know his will.

I remember once reading a Chick comic about the “evils” of the Catholic Church, where the characters in the comic learned about the “black pope,” the “New World Order” to be brought about by Vatican II, and other sensationalized “evils” of Rome. But I’m not writing this to bash Catholicism. Rather, as I went over that passage in Isaiah, a line in the comic came to my head, uttered by one of the characters in response to these “revelations” about the Catholic Church:

“Come quickly, Lord! Hurry!”

It is tempting, isn’t it, in this time of strife and division, to pray to the Lord, “Hurry, Lord God, come and bring your plans to fruition, that your triumph and power will be known!” But that is the Lord’s prerogative, not ours. It is our place to await His coming in readiness, not to demand that He come quickly to end our own troubles. He will do so in His own time, and when He does, it will be gloriously, perfectly timed.

Hmmm. The blog column in Index 6 continues to misalign whenever italicized text hits the margin. I’ll have to fix that.

Here’s an interesting Old Testament oddity in the book of Psalms. Take a look at Psalm 14, then at Psalm 53; but for a few phrases towards the end, they are practically the same, almost to the verse!

Nonetheless, the message is clear in both. And before you, Christian, condemn the “fool” for saying there is no God, remember that we were once “fools and evildoers,” and that we ourselves were no better, having at some point, like all humankind, turned away from Him who made us.

But you and I know it doesn’t end there, for the Lord is our refuge, and our salvation has indeed come.

More notes from John Gill’s Exposition.