There are a couple of things that I want to write about, but they are completely unrelated to each other. So we shall see where my fingers decide to take us today.
Something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently is God’s will. How do you find it? How do you know what it is when you do find? How do you accept it when you realize what it is? We have a tendency to talk about God’s will like it is some mystical code that we have to crack so that we can be “good Christians” and make God happy.
I’ve mentioned before how I grew up in Christian school. We had chapel two to three times a week and probably a 60% of the messages were on finding God’s will for your life. As a 7th, 8th, and 9th grader, I pretty much had God’s will for my life all figured out. Go to school, make good grades, honor and obey my parents and teachers. That pretty much summed up my life in junior high and a good portion of high school too. It wasnt until I graduated from high school and got a job that I really had to start thinking about what God’s will really is…
Am I supposed to go to an expensive college and take out a ton of loans and trust God to provide for the funds?
Am I supposed to work till im 30 and then try to go to college?
Am I supposed to marry the first Joe Schmo that comes along?
Am I supposed to get married at all?
Which path am I supposed to take?
Suddenly I am faced with a thousand choices; a thousand scenarios flood my thoughts. My parent’s no longer can make all of the hard decisions for me. And what about this? What if I choose the wrong path? What if I mess up and choose the wrong thing? My life will be ruined! God can never have His plan fulfilled in my life if I mess up this first, very important choice!
But when my dad took me out for coffee to explain to me what his choice was concerning Rich, He explained God’s will in a way that finally made a lot of sense. Actually He used two examples.
He set his coffee cup off to the side of our round table in the front of Kennedy’s coffee. Then then took his hands and made a round-ish shape. He then began to explain that we tend to think God’s will is just one point inside that circle. But that’s not really what God’s will is. God’s will is the whole circle. As long as we are seeking God, obeying Him and trusting Him, we are inside of God’s will. Sometimes we get near the edge of the circle. Sometimes we push up against the edge, but if we are child of God, we can never be outside of God’s will. It IS possible for us to NOT be in the CENTER of His will, but we can never be far enough from the center to be completely outside and “too far gone” for God to still use us.
My dad then mentioned the verses in Psalm 37:23-24
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.”
When I’m not living in the center of God’s will and in sin, im not entirely doomed! According to that passage, when I mess up God upholds me with His hand. He’s got me! By His grace, I can always come back to the center of His will.
My daddy went on to describe God’s plan like a puzzle. He said that when we make a choice that might not have been the best or not been exactly what His plan was it’s like we dropped a puzzle piece when doing a thousand piece jig-saw puzzle. When the piece we dropped hits the floor the whole puzzle doesn’t explode and then become unsolvable. You just have to put the pieces in in a different order. Sometimes you might get stuck and it might make the puzzle harder to solve with a piece missing, but eventually you will think to check the floor and there the piece will be. Once you put the missing piece in, the puzzle comes together just how it was intended. My dad told me that if he was making the wrong choice by separating Rich and I that God would make sure that He would pick up the dropped piece of the puzzle off of the floor and insert it into the “puzzle” at just the right time.
I’ve thought of this illustration many times since our coffee date. Not only does it apply to the situation with Rich, it also applies to other decisions that I have to make.
As long as I am living in God’s will and seeking Him, He promises that I can’t fall. It changes my thinking from “Oh No!
If I mess this up I’m doomed!” to “I know all of the choices are good choices. I just have to decide which one will give the most glory to God.” That just totally removes the pressure of choosing the right thing to avoid making God mad or ruining His plan. It frees me up to focus on loving a pleasing Him.
God’s will doesn’t have to be some mystic code. God’s will really is just to seek Him daily, to live a life that pleases Him, and to want what He wants! God will always bring us back to the center of His will if we are seeking Him. That’s some pretty amazing grace!
Today’s Blessings:
1.I don’t have to worry about totally ruining my life if I’m seeking God and trusting Him.
2.God’s incredible grace that He shows when we do mess up.
Blessings in Waiting 