Lately, the book of the Bible that has been on my daily list to read with ladies from church (http://lincolncitychurchwomen.blogspot.com) has been Jeremiah.
Not an overly cheery book, seeing as the pages are filled with dire warnings or with ghastly word pictures of the various ways the rebellious people will die if they don't change --- all set against the backdrop of EXILE.
Exile doesn't sound like a nice place to be; it's no vacation, not a foreign exchange student plan, nor a diplomatic visit.
Yet, while reading this book, i found myself marveling in the awesomeness of the fact that it is in this very place that God is.
I'm not in exile.
And I don't know anyone personally who is.
But I also know that neither am i in a place that is completely the plan God has for me or my family.
We're not home. We're sorta in limbo (that's the place where our family hovers between Two Cities: Lincoln and Omaha).
Then i came across a very well-known verse in Jeremiah, one that is quoted alot and claimed by many.
In the midst of the peoples' exile, God says:
I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out -- plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for (29:11 of course!)
Sometimes i catch myself thinking and feeling and even praying in a way that sounds like i don't think God knows what He's doing! Surely, i know what to do to make this exile, this situation change, right?!
Hardly. I'm SO grateful that GOD knows what HE'S doing.
And that i can call on Him, pray to Him, search for Him .. and He'll be there.
When you call on Me, when you come and pray to Me, I'll listen. When you come looking for Me, you'll find Me.
Yes, when you get serious about finding Me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed. God's decree. (Jeremiah 29:12-14)
That's the challenge set before me:
- Get serious about finding God (not a buyer for our house, not a new house to move into)
- Want God more than anything else (not moving to Lincoln)
Because when i go looking for God, HE is what i'll find. I'm not going looking for God, hoping to find Him sitting in our new house, having coffee with a buyer for our current house.
He said He will listen. He will be there.
And where He is, there is freedom, peace, love, joy.
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
He Knows What He's Doing
Posted by Heather at 2:01 PM
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1 comments:
LOVE that we find that verse we quote so often in the middle of THAT book. In the middle of exile. I'm right there with you, girl. Seeking out God... letting Him deal with the circumstances. (I mean - trying to learn to do this!) And finding a lot more peace this way. When you make it to the promised land (haha - did i really just refer to Lincoln as the promised land?) I wonder how distant a memory Omaha will quickly become. Or at least this season of selling a house that is seeming incredibly long. Like childbirth, choosing to remember the pain makes the end result sweeter in my mind. When I think about holding that tiny, warm, perfect bundle for the first time, i like to remember the laboring that came before it.
At least for a moment. Remembering what I came through to get there (and somehow lived through it!) makes the promised moment seem like an incredible dream. If sneezing brought about babies, I'm not sure if I would have so much honor and respect for that moment as I do. =) That being said, I am reminding myself that hard things can bring about good, beautiful fruit. Whether we planned to go through the labor or not. Whether we even thought we wanted the fruit or not.
"He knows what He's doing"
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