The children of Israel lived with this tension of faith with God everyday they wandered in the desert. For forty years, they pitched their tents under God's cloud of protection and covering, but at any moment the cloud could lift up and begin to move, and if it did, it was their signal to getting packing because they were on the move again.
They would follow that cloud and wherever it settled, they would settle. But never with long term plans to stay, no matter how long it had been since the last move, because without warning God may come and mess up their plans.
How has or will God show up in your personal walk of faith? How will he "mess" up your plans? Is the cloud moving in your life?
Just like Abram sitting on his back porch pondering the mysteries of life, and God showing up to challenge him to dream bigger, think deeper and live freer, so God will come to us and challenge us to step outside the lines and go on an adventure with Him. If we do, we just might find ourselves changing our world.
God has called all of us to be a blessing. But a blessing only becomes a blessing when it is broken and given away. When Jesus fed the five thousand, it only happened in the breaking of the bread, because if it had stayed in the state it was in, only one piece, it would never have multiplied.
There is a breaking that happens when God calls us to be a blessing. It is the breaking of our wills to submit to another higher, greater dream than our own comfort and our own plans. It is the realization that the great God of the universe knows better what we need than we do…and where we will best fit.
There is a story in the Gospels that seems hard and strange. Jesus is calling some people to follow him, and they refuse telling him they have to bury their parents first, then they'll come to which He says, "Let the dead bury the dead."
What? How cruel! But if you study this passage out, you find that Jesus wasn't making light of their loss, but rather, they were making the excuse to him that they couldn't follow him until their parent's had died and they buried them, then they would come and follow him.
He was messing up their plans. They were settled and believed their plans were more important. But Jesus reminded them…the Kingdom is at hand, right here, right now. What will you do with it?
Will we allow the King to mess up our plans? Will we allow him to lead us to a place we never have been before?
What of Abram? What happened to him will happen to us, if we only will follow when the cloud moves…
"Then God took Abram up and showed him the land and said, look to the north, south, east and west, and wherever you can see, I have given to you and your descendants. And the whole world will be blessed because of you." (John's paraphrase)
Do not be afraid to dream in the day of God messing up your plans.
Do not be afraid that where he will lead you will be less than what you can dream.
Do not be afraid that he will take from you and leave you desolate, without him and alone.
Because He comes to mess with us when He is making us into someone, something…a blessing the whole world can receive.
No comments:
Post a Comment