Suddenly Surprise Me

One of the things I love about God are the "suddenlies" He brings when you least expect it - and need it the most.

God is full of suddenlies that answer prayers. They can be answers to short-term problems or long-term ones but nothing is too big or too small for God to deliver a suddenly right on time, especially when we are desperate for God to move on our behalf.

This past season of my life has been unlike any other. It has tested my faith and patience in ways I didn't even know possible, and yet, I have emerged out the other side stronger, wiser, and even more rooted down than ever before.

Sometimes our suddenlies don't feel so sudden. They can take a long time to show up and we can reach the end of our rope, throw in the towel, call it a day but when you walk with God you learn that these are the exact seasons to push through, to keep moving forward even if it feels like only an inch at a time.

I went looking for examples of life-altering suddenlies in the Bible and here are just a few:

Acts 2:2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

Pentecost was an occurrence of what I call a “suddenly of God”. A “suddenly” is a moment when God surprisingly breaks into time and space with an intervention of the Kingdom. The Greek word translated suddenly here means without warning or unforeseen. It was used for the suddenness of a lightening bolt. Pentecost was a spiritual explosion – like a flash from heaven. Repeatedly in the Bible and throughout church history God has intervened with suddenlies.

While our lives are not a constant stream of Suddenlies, neither is our life filled with only natural events. God still steps into our lives and suddenly changes. Notice that, although this was suddenly given by God, the believers were waiting for Him with ‘one accord’ prayer. (source: Harvest International)

There were burnt offerings in abundance, together with the fat of the fellowship offerings and the drink offerings that accompanied the burnt offerings. So the service of the temple of the LORD was reestablished. Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced at what God had brought about for his people, because it was done suddenly. (2 Chronicles 29: 35-36)

But God will shoot at them with an arrow; Suddenly they will be wounded. (Psalm 64:7)

Now on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, that is, the [c]Tigris, I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose waist was girded with gold of Uphaz! His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like burnished bronze in color, and the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude.

And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision; but a great terror fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore I was left alone when I saw this great vision, and no strength remained in me; for my [d]vigor was turned to [e]frailty in me, and I retained no strength. Yet I heard the sound of his words; and while I heard the sound of his words I was in a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground.

Suddenly, a hand touched me, which made me tremble on my knees and on the palms of my hands. And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.” While he was speaking this word to me, I stood trembling.

Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your prayers". (Daniel 10: 4-12).

 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.  He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” (Acts 9: 3-6)

I found this study on God's Suddenlies and it re-enforces the importance of waiting on God in tough seasons:

"In the original languages of the Bible, the Hebrew word “pith’owm” and the Greek word “exaiphnes” are frequently translated as “suddenly.” These terms convey a sense of immediacy, of something happening instantaneously or unexpectedly. When God acts suddenly, it is often to demonstrate His power, His sovereignty, and His ability to transcend our limited human understanding of time and causality...

But we must also remember that what appears sudden to us may be the culmination of God’s long-prepared plans. As Saint Peter reminds us, “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” (2 Peter 3:8). Thus, the suddenness we perceive may simply be our limited perspective on God’s eternal purposes unfolding in time

When the Bible speaks of God acting suddenly, it invites us to cultivate a spirit of watchfulness, readiness, and trust. It challenges us to remain open to the unexpected ways in which our Lord may choose to reveal Himself and work in our lives and in the world around us. (Walton et al., 2000; Westbrook, 2001, pp. 36–77)." (Source: Christian Pure)

Our suddenlies are long-planned and carefully orchestrated. When researching all the "suddenlies" in the Bible, some pointed to the Spirit of God appearing suddenly, such as with Saul on the road to Damascus, but a lot of times the examples are God moving "suddenly" - through other people - and often it was in the midst of war or God moving suddenly to take down an army that seemed impossible to defeat.

It can feel God is moving so slowly during hard seasons but eventually there will be a suddenly where that enemy is taken down and out. That enemy can be people in your life, situations, bad environments God needs to move you out of, blockages keeping your from your purpose or deeper relationship with Him, or anything that's been keeping you in a season of waiting once that time has expired.

Catch it.

All seasons, no matter how long or tough, have an expiration date.

Suddenlies always come but waiting for them and trying not to control the outcome or telling God when or where or how that suddenly will appear is part of the refinement we go through in our walk in strengthening our faith.

Letting go of control to Let God is part of receiving that suddenly. It's moving into a place of knowing and seeing that, not only is God working for your good to give you that suddenly that is the answer to prayer you've needed to progress to elevate in Him, but also leaving room for the surprise with the suddenly.

God has all the resources for your "suddenly" to surprise you at its magnitude, its thoughtfulness, its answer to prayer that extends far beyond what you ever could have written for yourself.

Only God; the great I AM, the beginning and the end.

So ask yourself, am I stepping back and letting my hands loose of what troubles me? Am I creating space for God's "suddenly" in my life without my own presecription?

And, in my expectant and faithful waiting on my suddenly can I move into a posture of not only praise for the unseen, but the expectant hope of how great that suddenly will be?

Let God know that not only do you believe in His impending "suddenly", but you release all control to define the outcome, because you trust so inherently that God has it, and you, that you can surrender it at His altar with the two words: Surprise Me.

Prayer for a Suddenly Surprise Me:

God, you are so mighty.

I praise you for your faithfulness and care even when I'm not feeling it or seeing movement.

I trust the way you carry me and can look back and see you've done it before, and you will do it again, and again, and again.

Hold me in these hard times, shine your light upon me to show me my path, and give me hope for my future, as You have written and promised.

You are a God of Suddenlies and I KNOW and SEE in my Spirit, in my heart, the very fibre of my being, that you have a suddenly with my name on it that's just for me.

I pray, God, for you to do a work in me to help release any control I am trying to exert over a situation that feels hopeless because you are not a hopeless God!

I pray, God, that you fill me with your peace in handing this situation over so that I can rest in the excited expectation of your deliverance without my prescription.

Surprise Me, O God, with the wondrous ways you work that are beyond measure and superscede my human understanding.

Great are your ways and endless is your mercy.

Thank you for your steadfast promises of which you never fail especially for your faithful.

I am a laborer for you, God, of which there are few.

May I find favor in your presence this day.

In Jesus might name, Amen.