Weather Report From Heaven: Sunny and bright, with an abundance of light and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Bible verse of the day: Psalm 37:3-4 ” Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
God is in the resume building business. He is always using our past experiences to help prepare us for future opportunities. The Bible is full of such stories. God uses the failings and the successes of our lives to prepare us for what we need to achieve for His Kingdom work here on earth and in Heaven. 2nd Samuel 23:20-21 tells the story of a valiant warrior named Benaiah, who kills 2 of Moab’s mightiest warriors, and then kills an Egyptian giant with his own spear and finally kills a lion in a pit with his bare hands. All of this was preparing him for the day when he would become head of King David’s body guard regimen. David himself was being prepared to be a king when he learned to place all of his trust in the God who delivered him from the giant Goliath, giving him the courage to run to the battlefield with only a slingshot in his hand. Moses was a reluctant leader who had been prepared by God just at the right time to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Noah was prepared by God to withstand the ridicule and shame that came from his culture for building an Arc in the middle of the Desert.
The stories go on and on. One thing remains the same. God sees the big picture when we often times cannot. He is preparing us throughout our lives to play a part in his picture show, and we need to trust in His plan, even when it seems scary and impossible to believe. Thankfully, God is as patient as we are stubborn, and He will wait for us to come around because He knows how important it is that each of us fulfill the divine role that He has in mind for us. I look at my own life and often wonder how my past experiences are preparing me for some future opportunities. I must admit that at many times I wonder where exactly I am headed in my life. I have many things that I would like to accomplish, and yet can already feel the reality of time constraints starting to pinch in on some of my dreams. I must stop myself at those moments and recalibrate the image, because my understanding is so infinitesimal compared to the size of His power and His purpose. Isaiah sums this up well in 55:8-9 when he says “ for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” My job is to humbly admit that I have no real understanding of how the big picture is being worked out through all of my little life experiences. I must truly trust, by faith, that the God of the universe is going to be able to make it all come together at the perfect time for His glory. My fears can quickly get in the way of His plans if I don’t catch myself and learn to continually seek Him and trust His plan for my life. When I get anxious, it is because I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HE HAS IN MIND! But guess what, He doesn’t owe me or anyone else an explanation. He deserves the benefit of the doubt. I truly believe that He uses the mystery of our individual journeys as His main tool to build a deeper faith within us. If He showed us the ending of the movie at the beginning, life would loose all its mystery and intrigue. I think that learning to embrace that uncertainty is one of the hardest, yet most important parts of our Christian walk. It is called faith after all! 2 Corinthians 5:7 reminds us “For we live by faith, not by sight..”
We must never forget that when we accept Christ as our Savior, we are granted eternal certainty of being with Him forever, but we are not granted situational or circumstantial certainty in any manner. We must learn to see His hand at work in all facets of our life and to trust that all things are being worked out for His good. A selfish attitude around our desire to be in control, leads to anxiousness and fear. A selfless attitude where we trust in our Savior for all provisions and keep our eyes on Him leads to a “peace of God that transcends all understanding” Philippians 4:7, and helps us to cope with the storms of life. I struggle with having the desire to constantly live this way and the inability to do so. I still am a slave to the culture I live in and often feel like I am being torn in two by the desire to live, for Christ, and the need to find acceptance in a culture that is 180 degrees opposed to His teaching. We live in a narcissistic, pagan world, where self-centeredness is rampant and where the kingdom of self is heavily defended territory. The battles that rage between spirit and flesh as described in Galatians 5 are alive and fiercer than ever. I pray that God has been building my resume for the times that are to come so that I may be prepared, and understand exactly what is needed. When courage is required, God needs His men to be the dependable ones. That fact has remained the same throughout the history of the Bible and God has always used their lives to prepare them for action. May my resume be ready at just the right time!
Prayer: Father God, these are perilous times we are living in. We ask for your help to maintain focus on You and your promises found in the Bible. May we always be preparing for the moment for which we were created to reach our destiny for your glory. Like King David, may we run to the Battlefield at the appropriate time, for whatever purpose You call us to. We pray ion Jesus’ mighty name. Amen!
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