Following….One Step at a Time

What a month!  I haven’t posted anything new in a couple of weeks, but it’s certainly not because I haven’t been learning anything!  As a matter of fact, I have visited my own blog several times reading over and over again the things that I know to be true about my God.  Over the past weeks/months God has been doing some radical things in my family.  I can’t possibly go into all the details here, but I do want to share something that keeps coming back to my mind over and over again.

When we think about our lives, I’m sure that each of us can pinpoint several major milestones or crossroads--points where we experience life-changing direction.  I know that in my own life, I’ve thought many times, “This would be so much easier if God spoke to me through neon signs in the night sky.”  What I’m really saying is that I could follow so much easier if I just had clear, indisputable direction.  Is that really true, though??  Is it easier to follow clear direction?  I don’t think so….at least not right now, it’s not.  God has clearly directed in our lives, and we are now standing at one of those crossroads.  It’s like we are waiting in the middle of the intersection without a clue as to which direction to take.  We didn’t just happen upon this place.  God brought us here—I have no doubt about that.  But what now?

I’ve been rehearsing truth about God.  God is sovereign.  He makes no mistakes.  He loves me.  He is good.  He wants to be glorified in every circumstance.  He gives grace for every trial.  He has a solution before I even know I have a problem.

As I’ve thought about these things, I remembered Abraham.  In Genesis 22, God told Abraham to take his only son Isaac and offer him as a burnt offering to the Lord.  God audibly spoke to Abraham—you really can’t get direction any clearer than that!  How hard that must have been for Abraham!

As I read through this chapter several things jumped out at me.  God’s initial instructions to Abraham were, “Take your only son to the Land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”  God told him enough to get him started on his journey, but He also says “on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”  I don’t think Abraham knew yet exactly to which mountain he would be going. 

He got up early the next morning and chose two young men to accompany him and Isaac on this journey.  They traveled for three days.  Don’t you imagine that with every step of that long journey Abraham was rehearsing what he knew to be true about God?  God keeps His promises.  God miraculously gave me a son.  God said that a nation would come from Isaac’s offspring.  God has told me to kill my son.  These thoughts probably went around and around in Abraham’s mind, yet he obeyed God…one step at a time. 

The Bible tells us that on the 3^rd day “he (Abraham) lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar off.”  I’m not sure how he knew, but when it was time, God let him know the place.  At this point, he left his servants with the donkey and continued on with Isaac telling them, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”

Do you see that?  Abraham has been told to offer his son up as a sacrifice, yet he basically tells his servants, “We’ll be back later”.

Abraham didn’t know exactly what God was going to do, but he did know God.  He trusted that somehow God would spare his son.  BUT here’s what is important to see here….He’s not questioning God.  He’s not saying, “Ok…where’s the catch?  I need to see the end result before I can obey.”  He is obeying each step of the way.

Abraham and Isaac continued on.  Isaac even asked Abraham, “Where is the lamb?”  Abraham’s answer, “God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.”

They finally came to the place, but Abraham did not waiver.  He prepared the altar, bound Isaac and placed him on the altar, raised the knife to kill him….obeying every step of the way.  THEN the Angel of the Lord spoke.  “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me.”  There in the thicket was the ram that God provided for the offering.

Abraham named that place The Lord will Provide.  Doesn’t that just give you chills? 

 
The same God that clearly directed and provided for Abraham is the same God that is directing and providing for you and me.  He is our personal God.  Abraham was not a superhuman, but he had the same personal God.

Do we withhold things from God?  Do we hesitate to obey because we don’t know the end result?  It is hard to obey when we can’t see the end, but we trust an all-knowing, all-wise God.  We have to literally rest in the knowledge that He knows our end.  He is directing us to that end.

We have no choice but to follow Him…one step at a time.

Rest For The Weary Mind and Heart

Wow….this post is long overdue.  Finding time to put my thoughts in order has been difficult lately.  Today, my goal is to just barely scratch the service of an unending topic – The Sovereignty of God.  Take a moment to think about that.  God is sovereign over ALL things.  NOTHING surprises Him.  I’ve been meditating on this for months…

When I am physically and mentally weary, I long for rest.  I have found sweet rest in mediating on the sovereignty of God.  As I’ve mentioned before, I struggle a lot because of my tendency to control situations and solve problems.  I can be easily overwhelmed by situations and circumstances that are beyond my control.  Constantly reminding myself that God is in control of everything—especially when I am not—gives my mind rest.

Why am I spending so much time meditating on something that is seemingly obvious?  Because, we tend to skim over the obvious.  We fail to personalize something so profound.  When you personalize the fact that God is sovereign over all things, it will change the way you live.

A few weeks ago, I was listening to Elizabeth Elliott speak about having a quiet heart.  She said this, “How to keep a quiet heart?  Put your whole trust in a God who is rational, personal, loving, and completely in charge of the whole universe and every tiniest detail of our lives.”

I don’t really have trouble remembering that God is in charge of the whole universe, but I do have trouble remembering that God is in charge of every tiny detail of my life.  Think about that for a minute.  Every detail….  Every. Single. One. 

Wow.  That puts a whole new spin on things, doesn’t it? 

When we go through trials---no matter what they are, we tend to pray for relief.  “God, please deliver me.”  “Make it go away.”  “I can’t deal with that person.”  We are tempted to think we need to inform God of the solution.  Once we let Him know what we need, then we think it won’t be long before something happens.  We even think up complicated scenarios and solutions to produce our expected outcome.  We are willing to jump through all kinds of hoops.  We could save ourselves a whole lot of time and energy if we just remind ourselves of the simple truth – God is sovereign.  It’s so simple, really.  God knows every detail.  He will use the trials in my life to make me more like Him.  I should really be praying, “Lord, show me how I should respond, so that I will be more like you.”

Simple doesn’t equal easy.  Oh, it is so hard to just let go of self.  My tendency is to preserve self or make myself look good in difficult situations.  My goal should be to reflect Christ.  It’s so easy to think that “reflecting Christ” is reserved for only some circumstances.  No.  No matter how difficult it seems, I should reflect Christ in all circumstances.  Yes, all of them.  Remembering that God is sovereign helps me do that.  I know that I’m not always successful, but I do find that I am more mindful—even in the seemingly mundane things of life.

As I said, I’ve been thinking about these things for weeks—a whirlwind of thoughts swirling through my head.  I’ve been struggling with how to make all of this come together, then I found it!  The story of Naaman.  We talked about this last Wednesday night, and I just sat there jumping up and down inside.  I probably would have made a few people nervous if I had been jumping up and down on the outside. J  To summarize the story (found in 2 Kings 5), Naaman was the wealthy, mighty, Captain of the Host of Syria.   He was also lost (unsaved), stubborn and proud.  In his home lived a slave girl who had been taken from her home in Israel.  This little girl (her name is never mentioned) believed in the true God of Israel.  She was evidently loyal to her master and his family because she was concerned for him and his family.  He had leprosy.  All of his riches, honor, and power could not heal him.  The slave girl wished that there was a prophet of God in Samaria, so that he could be healed.  Since he had no other option, Naaman visited Israel in search of a cure – first going to the king, and then eventually to Elisha, the prophet.  Elisha’s instructions:  Go dip in the muddy Jordan River seven times.  Naaman’s reaction:  anger.  Naaman was prepared for something WAY more grandiose and complicated.  His servants, talked some sense into him…..They said, you know you would do something far more difficult.  He’s telling you to go dip in the Jordan seven times.  You can do this.  When he obeyed, he was healed.  Not only was he healed physically, but he believed on God and rejected the idols of his country.

How does Naaman’s story apply to me today? 

Naaman’s circumstances were beyond his control.  Most things that overwhelm me are beyond my control.  God provided a way for healing even before Naaman knew he needed it.  He found out about the God of Israel through his slave girl.  Think about this….the day that little girl was kidnapped from her family and taken to a foreign country to live, she, too, was placed in a situation out of her control.  God in his sovereignty orchestrated it all!  He placed her in Naaman’s house.  Although she was a young girl AND a slave, she apparently responded correctly to her situation.  I don’t think she was rebellious and wishing evil on Naaman and his family.  She cared enough to tell them about her God.  Because she responded to her ongoing trial (slavery) correctly, Naaman was healed and believed in God.  Oh, and another thing….we don’t know her name.  It doesn’t really matter what her name was, what matters is who her God is.  Self doesn’t matter.  God does.

Back to Naaman….he visits Elisha and gets instructions for healing.  They were simple.  Dip in the Jordan River seven times.  He was rich and powerful, a mighty soldier, he could do anything, BUT how would it look for him to be going down into the muddy old Jordan River?  That wouldn’t be very dignified, would it?  What would others think?  or  Maybe the problem was there would be too little attention there.  Whatever, his reasons, it is clear that Naaman had other ideas.

How many times do I think my ways are better than God’s ways?  I need to simply obey.

Naaman’s obedience brought him healing and new life.  My first step of obedience of believing in Christ alone for salvation brought me new life.  My continued obedience to His Word, brings me healing and joy as I grow to be more like Him.

When I try to break such gigantic truths down into “bite-sized” pieces, I think about Psalm 139 (another great passage illustrating God’s sovereignty).  Ps. 139:6 says, Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it.  I trust that these simple, yet profound truths will encourage you in your walk with Christ. 

Rest in God’s Sovereignty.  Reflect Christ.