Lord, show me what to do with my time
so I can be part of what You're doing
at all times.
Amen*
Overwhelmed.
That's my word of the week. Or month.
There's a lot happening within the next 10 days and that's the only word I can think of to describe it.
Overwhelmed.
A lot of things are changing again soon. Yet another time of transition is here. As with all change, there comes a lot of fear and uncertainty of the unknown. Worries about if it's where I should be, if it's going to be good, if I can even do it, if it's going to get me to where I need to go. I worry so much about how it can all happen.
In 1 Samuel 12:22 of The Message translation it says: God, simply because of who He is, is not going to walk off and leave His people. God took delight in making You into His very people.
God delights in the process. I say this all the time but I am continuously reminded of how true that statement is. God delights in the process and will help us see when we need to see, know when we need to know, and hear when we need to hear. It's all part of the process of God shaping us into who He wants us to be.
A while back, a good friend of mine gave a sermon about the how. He used the example of Jesus feeding the five thousand with just a couple loaves of bread and a few fish. The disciples had no idea how they could possibly feed all those people. But Jesus did. He took the 5 loaves and 2 fish, lifted His face to heaven in prayer, blessed, broke, and gave the bread to the disciples, and the disciples in turn gave it to the people. (Mark 6:41). As the sermon says, "When the disciples were free to trust that Jesus had the how taken care of, they could focus on what Jesus gave them to do in that moment."*
Since God has figured out the HOW we can focus on the NOW.*
When I think about what I'm doing and what I want to do in the future with my life, there's a lot of moments when I think - how is this ever going to happen? I get consumed by worrying about the logistics of things and how and if they will all play out. It is in this worry that I'm learning more to trust God. To come to Him in the times when I'm overwhelmed and simply say - Lord show me what to do with my time so I can be part of what You're doing at all times.
Romans 4 is all about that:
~ Verse 3 - What we read in scripture is, Abraham entered into what God was doing for him and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own.
~ Verse 16 - This is why the fulfillment of God's promise depends entirely on trusting God and His way and then simply embracing Him and what He does. God's promise arrives as pure gift.
~ Verse 17 - God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody.
~ Verse 18 - When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said He would do.
I want to be a part of what God is doing.
Because what God does is good.
I know that full well.
And not just in my life but in the lives of those around me.
I don't have to know how it's all going to happen. I don't need to be overwhelmed by everything. I just have to trust God with each moment of each day, trusting that He is guiding, leading, shaping, preparing, and getting me to something greater. Something beyond me. Something I can't possibly think of.
What if the point of where God has you is to do something that is beyond you?*
I went for a run. I ran and spent some time underneath the shade of the trees. It was just what I needed and I was able to clear my head and refocus on what I needed to - God. To trust God with each moment of the day leads to trusting Him with each day, each week, each month...my life.
Then things don't seem so overwhelming.
*Sermon given by Nathan Harrison
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