God’s help doesn't always come right away or in the way that we want. Sometimes it doesn't come after we have simply “taken
no thought but to ask” for His power and miracles. In fact, most of the time, it's the opposite. A counselor in a previous bishopric of mine actually said to me that
because this is often the case, that our God is a “fourth-watch God.” But what
does this mean? When the counselor said this he was actually referencing the story in
Matthew 14:
22 ¶And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to
get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the
multitudes away. 23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a
mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. 24
But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind
was contrary. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them,
walking on the sea.
Here Jesus gives the command to His disciples to cross
to the other side of the sea while He retires to pray. And He prays and lets
the disciples struggle until the fourth watch. The Romans broke the night into
four, three-hour blocks and called each one a watch. The fourth watch is the
time from about 3am until dawn.
In other words, it is the last watch, the
darkest time of night. Jesus surely knew of the coming storm. And the disciples
surely felt prepared. After all, the sea was their workplace. They had been in
storms before. And so they rowed, and rowed, and rowed—though the wind howled
in their faces. After the first few hours, muscles screaming, they must have
felt discouraged. But Jesus had commanded and so they obeyed. It wasn’t until
they had literally rowed all night into a storm that Jesus came. With hands
blistered, soaked with freezing water, most likely delirious, they peered
across the waves:
26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea,
they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. 27 But
straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not
afraid.
The reassurance that we can take from this scripture is
that even though God may wait until what seems like the last moment to reveal
His hand, once He does appear, He is mighty to save.
32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind
ceased. 33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of
a truth thou art the Son of God.
If we manage to but hold on until the last moment, God
will work miracles in our lives. And not just any miracles. These experienced
fisherman had never seen such a thing as the wind suddenly ceasing, and it was
so powerful that they proclaimed Jesus’ divinity without hesitation. These are
big miracles. They are testimony building ones. But they come at a price. They
come when you are about to give up.
Most of my personal troubles with God operating in the
fourth watch come when I compare myself to others. I notice when other people’s
troubles seem to be fixed before my own. I see miracles or read of them or hear
about them and I wonder, “Why aren’t my prayers being answered? Where is my
miracle? When is it my turn to be rescued?”
And then a few weeks ago I read the passage in Luke 8
where the woman with the issue of blood is healed when she touches Jesus’ robe.
And suddenly I could see the scene in my mind’s eye. I could see what it must
have looked like to an outsider, perhaps with their own troubles and
tribulations. It would have been easy to think that this was an immediate
miracle. Indeed, a miracle that seemed to be almost taken by force and not in
patient waiting like is expected.
But how long did it truly take this woman to be
healed? And what was the price? To a bystander, the answers to those questions
were: three seconds and an outstretched hand. But Luke, our physician-apostle,
knows better. He must have inquired about her condition after the miracle because
out of all the Gospel authors he is the only one who writes these details:
43 ¶And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years,
which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,
44 Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her
issue of blood stanched.
So how long did the miracle actually take? And what
was the real cost? Sometimes miracles take twelve years and all of your earthly
wealth. But the miracles do come. This was the fourth-watch God in action.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s said in a legendary BYU devotional speech
entitled “The Inconvenient Messiah:”
“And as you labor to know him, and to know that he
knows you; as you invest your time—and your convenience—in quiet, unassuming
service, you will indeed find that 'he shall give his angels charge concerning
thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up' (Matthew 4:6). It may not
come quickly. It probably won’t come quickly, but there is purpose in the time
it takes. Cherish your spiritual burdens because God will converse with you
through them and will use you to do his work if you carry them well.”
“So if your prayers don’t always seem answered, take
heart. One greater than you ... cried, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me?’ (Matthew 27:46). If for a while the harder you try, the harder it gets,
take heart. So it has been with the best people who ever lived.”
“It is not easy to go without—without physical
gratifications or spiritual assurances or material possessions—but sometimes we
must since there is no guarantee of convenience written into our Christian
covenant. We must work hard and do right, as Abraham Lincoln said, and
sometimes our chance will come. And when we’ve tried, really tried, and waited
for what seemed never to be ours, then ‘the angels came and ministered unto
him.’ For that ministration in your life I pray.”
Please don’t doubt whilst waiting for miracles.
Jesus may wait to come until the fourth watch of the night. But He does come.
