In 1977, Bev and I left our first real ministry call and moved to Wyoming. A boom town called Gillette, full of young workers and with a shortage of spiritual care, caught my attention and seemed like a place where a young preacher could do something good. I felt that the Spirit was in the desire to relocate far from family, friends, and the familiar, so, we packed up and moved. We were on an adventure with no safety net or job promise! The first three months that we lived in that town brought one trial after another. Our son, Jay, then an infant, developed critical pneumonia and was hospitalized. The denomination that credentialed me balked at transferring my ministerial license to another District because, due to my inexperience, I had failed to observe proper protocol. To support my little family I took a back- breaking job in construction working from sun-up to dark! It sure looked like I had made a colossal error in judgment! After a year in that town, we moved back to New Jersey and to the position we had left. I looked like a kid that lost his nerve and failed in his mission. The whole move appeared to be a meaningless detour. But, all these years later, I am still convinced that God sent us to Gillette, Wyoming. What I did not know then, but do now, was that His purpose was not to use me to save the town! He used the town to save me! In those 12 months, He provided mentors and experiences that gave me lessons about His faithfulness and grace that changed my life, literally!
A half-century on this earth has made me aware of one sure thing - God's way are higher than my ways! Just when we think we made our plans and secured our future, everything turns inside out. Our new business runs headlong into a recession. Our investments lose a ton of money. We suddenly learn of a major physical problem. Or, just when it looks like we're about to go over the cliff, a bridge across the chasm Providentially appears. When there seems to be no answer, God reveals a divine solution. I believe that God smiles at our sense of surety, not because He's mean, but more like a father who knows how much his children do not know. As I watch my own adult children I sometimes want to rush in to offer them the benefit of my experience, but realize that they need to figure it out for themselves. My counsel is available, but not forced on them. God, too, offers the counsel of the Word and the Spirit, but is patient as we work it out.
And, for this I am so thankful - that He is a patient Father that works out His purposes; sometimes with our cooperation, and sometimes in spite of our obstinacy! When we are so certain that He's got one plan for our life, but He keeps on working out His purposes using even the detours for our benefit. Not every experience ties itself up into a neat package with a complete answer. Some our our experiences remain puzzling. We ask, "Why did that happen? What purpose did that serve?" The Lord told Isaiah, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.... For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9, KJV) So, we trust Him.
Remember Moses? His mother, fearing that Pharaoh would put him to death along with the other Israelite babies, set him afloat in the reeds. An Egyptian princess found him and took him to the palace where he grew up in royal privilege, given a great education, and learning to deal with power. Then, he grew headstrong, killed a man and became a fugitive. Did it appear that any promise in his life was gone? Sure enough! He spent 40 years tending a few sheep in the desert, far from power and privilege. But God had not forgotten him. In a moment of revelation at the burning bush that miraculously was not consumed by the fire, Moses heard God commission him to go and lead the Israelites out of slavery. He balked. He dallied. He stumbled. God steadied him, led him, and used a refugee, murderer, fearful man who stuttered, to build a new nation for His glory.
Perhaps you're 'in the desert' today. The bright promise you once knew is gone. It might be because you made some dumb or sinful choice, like Moses. It might be for reasons you cannot understand. Just know this, God knows who you are, where you are, and He still has a purpose for your life! Trust him! "But my work all seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose at all. Yet I leave it all in the Lord's hand; I will trust God for my reward." Isaiah 49:4 NLT
I do not mean to suggest that we should become fatalists, floating down the stream of life without using the oars provided to us by the Lord. We need not bounce off all the rocks while we stupidly shout, "Praise Jesus!" Choices must be made and they need to be shaped by a God-honoring obedience. It is important that we live intentionally, `on purpose.' Yet, it remains that even when we are obedient, even when we have the best of intentions—there will be side trips and detours that leave us wondering. In those moments, we must `let go and let God lead.'
Here's a word from the Word. Let it reshape fear into faith and change despair to hope. "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son,
so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.
What shall we say about such wonderful things as these?
If God is for us, who can ever be against us?" (Romans 8:28-31, NLT)
________________________
Take my life and let it be
consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my hands and let them move,
at the impulse of Thy love.
Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in endless praise;
Take my intellect and use
ev'ry power as Thou shalt choose.
Take my will and make it Thine.
It shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own.
It shall be Thy royal Throne.
- Frances Havergal
Public Domain
No comments:
Post a Comment