Awaiting God’s Arrangements for Us

“No one’s ever seen or heard…never so much as imagined…what God has arranged for those who love Him.”
1 Corinthians 2:9

Recently at a small group gathering, a comment was made about an upcoming event that would be happening in the new year. “2010?” a friend questioned. “I know it’s the new year and all but there is just something about ‘2010’ sounds like science fiction!”

Coming from a generation that grew up with the space program, we fully expected personal jetpacks and manned exploration of Mars by 2010. Yet with all the technological change in the intervening decades, our imaginations have become moribund. The ‘anticipated’ new cell phone, computer or movie only seems to add to the commonplace. With similar changes in our worship and overwhelming amounts of Christian information, I sense we have also diminished our expectations of God. What will it take to catch our attention spiritually?

Consider Habakkuk 1:5, “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.” The prophet was warning Israel about consequences for failing to follow God. And history tells us He was true to His word. As a parent disciplines out of concern, our Father has followed through on His promises, be they positive or negative. In Matthew 7:11, Christ tells us, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” If He will correct us, how much more so will He bless us?

Just consider the differences in terms: God called His creation ‘good’…how much better can His ‘good’ be than our ‘best’ or ‘unbelievable’? According to Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, we cannot imagine what God has arranged for His children. Why don’t we recognize His gifts?

Simply put: impatience. Wanting something now prevents us from receiving God’s good gifts at the time He knows is best. Like a child too eager for a birthday or Christmas, we have tried to take over for God and supply our wants in our time. We read about Abraham being promised a family that would be uncountable or the Israelites entering a land flowing with milk and honey. While God’s plan was ultimately achieved, His people suffered for trying to make things happen on their schedule. But His discipline blesses us and prepares us for an even ‘better’ future.

While it may be 2010, let’s not diminish God’s blessing by our haste, but let us anticipate what God’s unbelievable arrangement will be for us in His time, not ours.

God Knows Just the Right Time

But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.
Galatians 4:4-5

In our lives, so many plans are prefaced with conditions: when things get back to normal; now’s not a good time; if I get a raise; we are so busy; I don’t feel right about it… it’s a wonder anything ever happens at all! Depending on our circumstances, making any number of decisions can be agonizing. How can we know when it is best to act and when to wait? When will we know the right time?

Was the timing right for Abraham to obey and leave Ur or for Moses to head to back to Egypt? How about a carpenter named Joseph going through with a marriage to his young bride? Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us, He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

In hindsight, these heroes of the faith made their choices at just the right time to fulfill a part of God’s plan. But at the time, unlike the writer of Ecclesiastes, “beautiful” may not have been their adjective of choice to describe their circumstances. Lacking any concrete evidence for the outcomes of their actions, they moved forward armed only with trust. In each case, their reward far outweighed any and all of their fears about the future!

Consider how salvation for all humanity was set into motion with the arrival of Christ at the right time. Jesus was born as a Jew under God’s law and yet was the only man who lived the law flawlessly. The Messiah’s sacrifice as the only perfect man was timed perfectly to redeem us as sinners under the law. Not only were we freed, we were adopted as heirs, sharing in Christ’s rich inheritance of all of God’s promises, provisions, and power.

With the weight of eternity in our hearts, having the faith to obey God can be a struggle. Trying to know which decision best follows His will can leave us paralyzed and indecisive. At these times, we easily forget God’s completely perfect record of faithfulness and love for us. Regardless of our circumstances, and our inability to see beyond them, we can always trust that God will always act at the right time!

God Disciplines Us for Holiness

Heading into Jerusalem for that fateful Passover week, Jesus grieved over the Holy City, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.” (Matthew 23:37 NLT)

Jesus’ heart was full as He surveyed the people that would hail his entry and in a few days, demand His departure via the cross.  How well He speaks to parents with children that have wounded them.  I know such a parent, a single mom undergoing serious trials with a rebellious teen-age son.  She has not walked with God for many years but having been laid off twice in the past 18 months and dealing with her son’s escalating drug problems have brought her back to a journey of faith.

In these ordeals, she has found solace in prayer and speaks of asking God to use her in these troubling situations.  Yet as her faith has grown, her son’s academic, legal and medical woes have also increased.  With mounting troubles, her doubts and questions have developed in recent days: how can she see that the God she seeks is bigger than the hurricane force storm she finds herself in?

To a church facing the storms of persecution, Paul wrote in Hebrews 12: 5-11, “…do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes everyone he accepts as a son.  Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.  Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it.  How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!  Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness.  No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

Despite the forces aligned against Him, Christ wept over Jerusalem’s rebellion.  Paul sought to encourage and strengthen those persecuted for the name of Jesus.  For this mother, my prayers are that God’s words will comfort and strengthen her in the present and that the consequences her son faces will ultimately benefit him.  For all of us, these promises of peace and righteousness can become a foundation of truth and faith for all our families.  Knowing that “God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness” can give us much needed hope as we look forward to the His “harvest of righteousness and peace”.

Is God Really Glorified by My Ordinary Life?

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.
Romans 12:1 (The Message)

Throughout history, we have grown accustomed to segmenting our lives, determining where spiritual matters are appropriate and when the secular must take precedent. Such compartmentalization is common to human thinking, allowing us to segregate actions that are acceptable in one venue from another where they are not. We allow our lives to be scheduled by the places and times certain behaviors are tolerated, even encouraged. God is conveniently placed in His box and my life is what I want of it, when and how I want it. And our priorities have changed little over the past twenty centuries.

Trouble is, life rarely accommodates our plans and we soon spend much time putting out the fires caused by our convenience and ease. In his New Testament writings, Paul spoke from personal experience about moving from having life his way to the much better way…God’s way.

In the 12th chapter of Romans, Paul describes every aspect of each life as an offering to God, not just the portions we or society select. He wisely begins the chapter with the admonition “God helping you”, knowing personally that God equips those He calls. By relying on God’s strength rather than our own, we can focus our “everyday, ordinary” lives on Him rather than ourselves. In this way, we can present ourselves to Him as an appropriate offering.

By “embracing what God does” for us with this type of sacrifice, we fulfill God’s purpose in creating us: worshipping Him. Paul calls this the best thing we can do for our Creator. May we have the courage to seek God’s help to use what we consider run-of-the –mill in our lives to glorify Him!