TRUSTING GOD IN THE ENDINGS, AND THE BEGINNINGS

So we’ve found a place in Florida where we’d like to settle.  For the last few weeks we’ve been slowly working to sort through the accumulated STUFF we’ve collected over the last 31 years of living in the same house.  I’m ashamed, in view of how much of the world lives, to see how much we have that we don’t even use.  We’ve filled boxes and bags and donated a lot to a local ministry that runs a thrift store.  And we’ve thrown a lot away.  It’s physically exhausting and Jim and I aren’t as young as we used to be.

What’s also exhausting is not sleeping because of all the things going through my mind that I should be entrusting to God.  Too often lately, like this morning, I wake up around 3 AM and then eventually just get up because I can’t sleep.  At 5 AM this morning I was eating toast and having coffee while spending some time with the Lord.  It’s so much more profitable than tossing and turning.

I read Psalm 32 and was reminded of how blessed I am because the Lord has made provision for the forgiveness of my sin through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.  How can I fret over the details of selling a house when Jesus has taken care of my sin problem?  Those details pale in comparison to the much greater work He has already done in my soul!

And I was encouraged to read what God says in verse 8: “I will instruct You and teach You in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.”  I was inspired by that verse to think of all the ways and times the Lord has instructed me and taught me “IN THE WAY I SHOULD GO”.  He has a WAY in which I should go and He has faithfully led me in that way through all these years that I have walked with Him.  So why am I fretting?  Will He not also do that now?  Of course.  He’s faithful.

On Sunday our pastor said this: “God’s sovereignty is only viewed backward”, meaning that we can best see the involvement of God in our circumstances as we look back – not necessarily while we’re in the midst of something.  So, I also spent some time this morning looking back and thanking the Lord for all the ways I could see His activity in my life in the past.

·       There were ministries in which He invited me to participate here that I’d never have thought of on my own, like neighborhood Bible studies, ESL tutoring, and teaching middle school Sunday school.

·       There was a kidney donation He orchestrated.

·       There were difficult years He brought us through and used to mature our faith.

·       There was the untimely birth of our granddaughter and the privilege He gave us to have her live with us for 12 of her nearly 18 years.  What a blessing that untimely birth turned out to be as God did what He said He would do in Joel 2:25, “I will restore to you the years that the locust have eaten.”  He made up for those difficult years with the blessing of the years with Emma.

·       He turned the difficulty of our son in law losing his job and their house and turned it into a wonderful opportunity for us to all live together – for six years – in harmony!

I finished up my time of praise and thanksgiving for the goodness and sovereignty of God by reading Oswald Chambers’, “My Utmost for His Highest”.  This is what he said:

 “Lord, I will follow You, but. . .” (Luke 9:61)

Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it.  What will you do?  Will you hold back? 

Every time you will turn back at the true point of testing, until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in total surrender.

Jesus Christ demands this unrestrained, adventurous spirit in those who have placed their trust in Him.  If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when he must risk everything by his leap in the dark.  In the spiritual realm, Jesus demands that you risk everything you hold onto or believe through common sense, and leap by faith into what He says.  Once you obey, you will immediately find that what He says is as solidly consistent as common sense.

Trust completely in God, and when He brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to you, see that you take it.  We act like pagans in a crisis – only one out of an entire crowd is daring enough to invest his faith in the character of God.

We have a lot to do to get ready to move.  We have to sort through 31 years of accumulated STUFF.  We have to paint and clean, all to get ready to sell a house – all overwhelming and stress producing!  BUT. . . . at the very same time we are on the verge of a GREAT ADVENTURE with the Lord. 

I want to be “daring enough to invest (my) faith in the character of God”!  He will see us through this ending of things. . . . and lead us on to a new beginning!  I can’t wait!