The Front of the Line

 

Is it legal to ask God to favor someone, to skip over others and bring them to the forefront? To pray for others in line for a job, a rental, a home, that God would pull their applications to the top of the pile, the “front of the line”? I’d prayed that way before, but was it legal?

I discovered the answer to my question this morning in Psalm 47:4: “He marked our inheritance ahead of time, putting us in the front of the line, honoring Jacob, the one he loves.”

If God does it, then it must be ok for me to ask him to do it for the ones I love and encounter along the way, right? So I left for work armed with this new truth, and a prayer: Jesus, let me be close to you today, hearing your every whisper, your direction, your instructions, your encouragement.

Well into my day, a client came to the office to sign some paperwork. He was having some legal problems and our office had prepared a Motion to file with the Court to hopefully get him some relief. In addition to his legal problems, he also had his foot in a walking cast.

“What happened to your foot?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s multiple stress factors from being on my feet all day long at my job,” he responded.

Stress in his legal issues. Stress in his body. And now the waiting begins for the overloaded Court to get around to hearing his Motion? Sounded to me like someone needed to be moved to the front of the line.

So I told him about the verse I had read in the Psalms that morning, about how God moves people he cares about to the front of the line, so it must be ok for his kids (me) to ask him to do that for others. And I prayed aloud for God to do just that, to bring his case to the front of the Court’s calendar, and to heal every fracture in his foot. It seemed to me as he left the office that day with a smile on his face, that he was walking a little lighter knowing that God cares about him, his legal issues, his fractured foot, and that it was okay to ask God to move him to the front of the line.

And the promise is for me, too!

So I declare today that You marked out my inheritance ahead of time, before the foundation of the world you knew me, putting Taffy at the front of the line, honoring your Taffy as the one you love. Like John, your “beloved” disciple, I am the one laying across your chest, leaning close, listening to your every word with the cadence of your heartbeat as my anchor.

I don’t know about you, but I would have fainted unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of God - with skin on, before my eyes - in the land of the living.

Oh, God let your people in Afghanistan and Haiti see your goodness today, while they are still alive.

“I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait – entwine yourself in the Lord, yes, keep on waiting – for he will never disappoint you! Psalm 27:13-14,

But God, I do get disappointed!

But you promise that you won’t disappoint me. There is a difference.