Two years ago, I would never have imagined myself where I am now. And that's the beauty and awe of God's master penmanship. As His children who have chosen to give up our rights to ourselves, handing ourselves over to His grace, He artfully writes out the stories of our lives, and leaves various plots and options open to us to choose which ever direction we see fit. Sometimes those choices distance us from the heart of God, others draw us nearer and still some seem to have little to no impact in the eternal grand scheme of themes.
When you really think about the implications of the tiny details of our lives in the hands of an Eternal, endless God, it really is awesome! The Lord really does have amazing plans for us in store. You know the verse. Jeremiah 29:11—a scripture typically taken out of context, but the sentiment and reality of the truth is still applicable to our personal lives. Theologically speaking, you understand the theory and concept that God does have great things in store for us, and yet I'm sure we still find ourselves amazed and sometimes even shocked when He follows through with this very promise.
We often curse Him and fight with Him when the storms come our way, but when the sunny skies bless us we sometimes miss the conspicuousness of the blessing, take it for granted or even find it bewildering! We have so much control over our lives, our words, and our beliefs that it really does challenge our self-suffiency when God orchestrates circumstances that are completely outside of our influence.
And when He does so, it's immensely humbling. And that's a good place for us to take rest. For it is in that humility that we find ourselves exposed, with little option but to relent in our endless pursuit of self-suffiency. I often see myself as if my hands are on the ship's wheel where God is right behind me with His strong hands on my arms. In reality, I can exhaust every effort to turn the boat in a different direction—and can succeed—but I am really working against the master Navigator who knows which route is best.
God won't necessarily go against our deliberate will, and will allow us to head the ship if we see fit, but it will cost us something along the way. Though it will never cost us our relationship with Him, it can cost us our peace, and our joy and not because God is dishing out what we deserve, but because it is the natural consequence of stepping outside of God's direction. But even in the midst of our off course navigating, you will always find His fingerprint. In fact, He sometimes will even do what He can to make the way painful or difficult to draw us back to point, not to punish but discipline us out of love.
It may sound domineering or merciless, but I see it as one of the kindest acts of God's love. He is the Alpha and the Omega, and sees the beginning of our journey to the infinite end. The moment we give our lives to Him, we have the unmerited promise that He will never forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). We can choose to walk the other direction, but His love for us is stronger and penetrates deeper than any act of rebellion on our part. Nothing, absolutely nothing will severe that line of love that extends to us (Romans 8:39). It seems illogical, and impossible but it's the very thread that is woven through the fabric of our eternal destiny.
But it's not as though God is a puppet master, defying every choice and action on our part, but rather, like the potter, He cups us with His hands as we spin, forming our shape. We can choose to resist, and harden, but that process will take longer and wound us because of the force of His hands on a tough surface. Ultimately, it is our surrender to His working hands—not our own effort—that will result in a beautifully crafted vessel. It may be a difficult paradox to grasp, but the reality is that we are not in complete charge of our own painted destiny, but out of His mercy, He invites us to pick up a paintbrush with Him.
But even when we do surrender ourselves to His tide, He may not necessarily choose the path of least resistance for us, but He will choose the path of greatest reward. Journeying with God is still a paradoxical walk that every Christian spends his/her lifetime mastering. It's both the simplest, and most difficult endeavour you will ever undertake. It will both challenge you, and be simplistic. It will stretch you, and nurture you. It is not a heavy yoke nor burdensome, and yet it is a great responsibility to bear (1 John 5:3).
Along the way, though, God's grace is absolutely sufficient. Each day will bring its own troubles, but God's mercies are new every morning. His mercy is like the manna He provided to the Israelites when they wandered the dessert. They failed to trust in God's provision so they began to hoard it, and it literally rotted. Similarly, God asks us to rely on His mercy and grace today—in this moment — and not strive to store what we need for tomorrow.
C.S. Lewis artfully coins it in the Screwtape Letters when Screwtape, a demon, explains to his pupil that the present is the closest experience of God's existence for humans: "For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity. Of the present moment, and of it only, humans have an experience analogous to the experience of the Enemy [God] which our has of reality as a whole; in it alone freedom and actuality are offered to them."
In essence, Screwtape figured if they could keep their target — the Christians — focused on the past, or better yet the future, it would distract them from the presence of God. For God is eternal, and does not live in or by time, and consequently neither in the future and past. So we shouldn't find ourselves lost in the past, and living in tomorrow for Your God is with you here and now!
We walk out our daily lives with Him in us, around us and by our side every step of the way. He does not want to dictate every move we make but rather desires relationship. God is sovereign, and supreme, and definitely can get the job done much more efficiently, more easily and quicker than we humans, and yet he chooses us time and time again to accomplish His purposes. There are countless Biblical examples of God's cooperative effort with His chosen ones.
Think of how the Lord used Moses, Gideon, Solomon, David, Jonah, and Paul, to name a few! They all had their strengths and limitations, and God took them as they were and used them mightily in spite of their downfalls. In fact, some might argue that many of the names I listed were poor ambassadors for God at some point in their life.
But God is still the same today as yesterday, and He's seeking to walk with us as intimately as He did with Moses over two thousand years ago. We are no longer servants to a master (John 15:14-15). We are no longer slaves, forced into compliance and conformity, but have the freedom to disobey or obey as adopted sons and daughters.
The call on our lives is not to a walk of obligation and constraint, but to a life of living that overcomes our need to govern and arrange. God invites us not to walk before Him or behind Him, but as eternity begins in this moment now, He desires to walk with us side by side, hand-in-hand, with our eyes fixed on Him.
God knows, though, that our eyes will at times wander, but we can have confidence and find hope that even in those moments — and they will come — that He will always be at our side to guide, and to sustain. Here is a God who loves us and works intimately with us in both our obedient and obstinate ways, using everything to His glory and for our good (Romans 8:28).
Talk about humbling. I think it's time for a nap.
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