Worldwide Revival: An 8 Day Devotional with NewsboysSample

DAY FOUR: HOW MANY TIMES

How Many Times // Have You Rescued A Desperate Soul // Paved a Way Through a Dead End Road // Brought a Garden to Life From The Ashes

Have you ever wanted something so bad, for so long, and it feels like God just keeps saying no?

In our faith journeys, there are always going to be seasons that feel you’re indefinitely waiting on something. Maybe it’s a medical breakthrough, or financial freedom, or a relationship, or a job change. Whatever it is you’re waiting on, it can be hard to remain patient and steadfast in God’s promises for us. Seasons of waiting are not meant to be easy.

“How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say “I have overcome Him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation, I will sing the Lord’s praise, for He has been good to me.” – Psalm 13.

What an outpouring of David’s heart! This is a vulnerable prayer to be reading. The words are desperate. David is grappling with God, begging for God to reveal His timeline to David as he sits in a season of waiting. It’s possible you feel the same way. What’s something you’re waiting on from God right now?

Embedded in this plea for deliverance from David is an outcry of unwavering faithfulness, and that is what we set out to capture in the lyrics of How Many Times. Walking out of a season of waiting ourselves, the lyrics for this song were written from a place of choosing to focus on the faithfulness of God amidst that season of waiting. His unwavering faithfulness is the only thing that carries us forward. A steadfast trust in the Lord, despite whatever Earthly circumstances may arise, is the very definition of faith.

How Many Times // Have You Answered a Hopeless Prayer // Healed My Heart That’s Beyond Repair // Led This Captive from Shackles to Freedom

The Bible is full of examples of God’s faithfulness – when He allowed Sarah and Abraham to conceive despite their age, when the Israelites were delivered from slavery, when David beat Goliath despite all odds. All of those stories are examples of His faithful character. Hebrews 11:1 describes faith as “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Knowing that God is faithful to His promises, even when we cannot see the fulfillment of those promises, is what sustains us in seasons of waiting.

As we wrap up day four together, take a moment to reflect on Psalm 13 and the consistency of God’s faithfulness. His ways are higher, His timeline is perfect. Time and time again, He has proven that He loves us, and He will continue to do so for eternity.

1. Can you think of a time that God has been faithful in your life?

2. What practical steps can you take to strengthen your own trust in God’s timing and promises?