Weather Report From Heaven: Sunny and bright, with an abundance of light and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Scripture- “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” – Hebrews 11:1
Insight: Anyone else confused right now? The world seems so upside down. It can make us question everything. The things we once took for granted, we can no longer depend on. Our schools are most failing our children, the media is full of vitriol and deceit, our elected officials care more about enriching themselves than taking care of their constituents. Everyone can feel that the world is falling apart, but vehemently disagrees on why. But what if this confusion is part of God’s plan of surrendering our entire life to Him? When we come to the end of our ability to understand, maybe then we will admit we need to rely on God’s wisdom, and not our own understanding. God wants us to fully surrender our life to Him. The Bible makes this very clear. A little bit of Jesus does not go a long way.
I believe that God sometimes uses confusing circumstances to remove our ability to rely on ourselves and instead to totally rely on Him. But we have a hard time letting go of things that this world tells us are important. We have strongholds that can keep us from obtaining the very best of what God has for us. This can cause us to sometimes become confused as to what God’s will for our life is, especially when we are holding on to something so tightly and we can’t see the path before us. That is where Hebrews 11:1 must come into our life as an anchor verse when it says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Maybe, in fact, confusion is sometimes part of God’s plan to get us where He needs us to go. Maybe we would never choose to go where he wants us to if we saw the path first. Think about all the stories in the Bible that had the people confused, which led to total surrender, which led to God achieving great things through them. From Abraham being asked to set out on a journey to a foreign land he didn’t know, to Sarah having her baby Isaac when she was well past her child bearing years, to Moses being chosen to lead the Israelites in spite of his perceived lack of communication skills, to Gideon being chosen to save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. In fact, Gideon’s response in Judges 6:15 to God telling him he was the one to save Israel from the Midianite Army pretty much sums up this point perfectly when he replied “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” Gideon was utterly confused, but for God’s purposes that was a very good thing.
I can relate to Gideon. I have felt like Gideon many times. How about you? Are you confused about certain things that are going on in the world currently, where seemingly good is being called evil and evil is being hailed as good? Do you feel confused, like you have no control? A global pandemic, social discord and violence, economic calamities all around can lead to confusion. I am confused about things I hear on the news, and how everything is so politicized, so divisive, so cloaked in fear. But maybe this is a good thing in disguise. Maybe in fact it is a great thing, because it could be God is preparing us through our confusion to fully surrender our life to Him and He is about to take us on the greatest faith based ride of our lifetime.
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