Suddenly – that is the Word I woke up with in my spirit today. Suddenly can mean:
- quickly or unexpectedly
- a happening without warning or delay
- instantly, all of a sudden
- all at once, or instantaneously
Things can change in a day, in an hour, in a moment. God is a good Father and He loves to surprise His kids! Don’t you love surprises? I had the pleasure of taking my youngest daughter out dress shopping last night at the mall. For Valentine’s Day her boyfriend is taking her out to a special restaurant but he won’t tell her where. He wants to surprise her. I don’t know if she or I had more fun finding the perfect dress. And then the shoes, and still to do – the jewelry.
Remember young love? How we loved to surprise each other out of the blue. I remember. And I think I need to get a surprise ready for my love. We all love surprises right? Totally unexpected blessings from out of nowhere? That got me thinking – What does God do suddenly?
SUDDENLY
The Lord speaks to us
Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, Come out, you three, to the Tent of Meeting. And the three of them came out. (Numbers 12:4)
The Lord changes things
Thus Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, because of what God had prepared for the people, for it was done suddenly. (2 Chronicles 29:36)
The Lord delivers us from our enemies
Let all my enemies be ashamed and sorely troubled; let them turn back and be put to shame suddenly. (Psalm 6:10)
But God will shoot an unexpected arrow at them; and suddenly shall they be wounded. (Psalm 64:7)
But the multitude of your [enemy] strangers that assail you shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless and terrible ones like chaff that blows away. And in an instant, suddenly, You shall be visited and delivered by the Lord of hosts with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a devouring fire. (Isaiah 29:5-6)
Riches and Kingdoms disappear
Will you set your eyes upon wealth, when [suddenly] it is gone? For riches certainly make themselves wings, like an eagle that flies toward the heavens. (Proverbs 23:5)
O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does? says the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. At one time I will suddenly speak concerning a nation or kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it; And if [the people of] that nation concerning which I have spoken turn from their evil, I will relent and reverse My decision concerning the evil that I thought to do to them. (Jeremiah 18:6-8)
The Lord acts on His Word
I have declared from the beginning the former things [which happened in times past to Israel]; they went forth from My mouth and I made them known; then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass [says the Lord]. (Isaiah 48:3)
The Spirit of the Lord shows you visions
Immediately and suddenly there appeared the fingers of a man’s hand and wrote on the plaster of the wall opposite the candlestick [so exposed especially to the light] in the king’s palace, and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. (Daniel 5:5)
The Lord heals you
And immediately her flow of blood was dried up at the source, and [suddenly] she felt in her body that she was healed of her [distressing] ailment. (Mark 5:29)
An Angel of the Lord is sent to us with messages
Then suddenly there appeared with the angel an army of the troops of heaven (a heavenly knighthood), praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest [heaven], and on earth peace among men with whom He is well pleased [men of goodwill, of His favor]. (Luke 2:13-14)
And while they were perplexed and wondering what to do about this, behold, two men in dazzling raiment suddenly stood beside them. (Luke 24:4)
And while they were gazing intently into heaven as He went, behold, two men [dressed] in white robes suddenly stood beside them, Who said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing into heaven? This same Jesus, Who was caught away and lifted up from among you into heaven, will return in [just] the same way in which you saw Him go into heaven. (Acts 1:10-11)
The Holy Ghost/Holy Spirit falls
When suddenly there came a sound from heaven like the rushing of a violent tempest blast, and it filled the whole house in which they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues resembling fire, which were separated and distributed and which settled on each one of them. (Acts 2: 2-3)
The Lord appears to us in our everyday lives
Then on the next day he suddenly appeared to some who were quarreling and fighting among themselves, and he urged them to make peace and become reconciled, saying, Men, you are brethren; why do you abuse and wrong one another? (Acts 7:26)
The Lord transports us
And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord [suddenly] caught away Philip; and the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way rejoicing. (Acts 8:39)
Now as he traveled on, he came near to Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him, And he fell to the ground. Then he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me [harassing, troubling, and molesting Me]? (Acts 9:3-4)
And Cornelius said, This is now the fourth day since about this time I was observing the ninth hour (three o’clock in the afternoon) of prayer in my lodging place; [suddenly] a man stood before me in dazzling apparel, And he said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and harkened to, and your donations to the poor have been known and [a]preserved before God [so that He heeds and is about to help you]. (Acts 10:30-31)
But as I was on my journey and approached Damascus, about noon a great blaze of light flashed suddenly from heaven and shone about me. (Acts 22:6)
The Lord moves the Earth to deliver us
And suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared [standing beside him], and a light shone in the place where he was. And the angel gently smote Peter on the side and awakened him, saying, Get up quickly! And the chains fell off his hands. (Acts 12:7)
Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the very foundations of the prison were shaken; and at once all the doors were opened and everyone’s shackles were unfastened. (Acts 16:26)
The Lord returns
For you yourselves know perfectly well that the day of the [return of the] Lord will come [as unexpectedly and suddenly] as a thief in the night. (1 Thessalonians 5:2)
Are you ready for your “suddenly”?
(All Bible Verses from the Amplified Bible (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation)
Love this!! God loves to surprise us.