Time Flies

The saying is true, "Time flies when you're having fun!" Only, I am not sure what I have been having is "fun". But time sure has been flying! I have been having serious dependence issues. For those of you who do not know, we resigned our church in early January. We heard the Lord speak clearly and tell us that it was time to move on. The problem is that He did not tell us where we were moving to! We had complete and total confidence that the Lord had a plan for our family. There was not an ounce of trepidation as we made our announcement. However, over the course of several months, God's will was not clear. We were certain that He had spoken, but it did not work out the way we anticipated. We knew God had spoken clearly and wondered why it did not occur the way we heard. One thing God taught me was that we were not the only ones involved in this transition. There were many other people who need to respond in obedience for God's plan to be fulfilled the way we heard it. My next question was, "If God knows all things, why did He convey this plan to us only to be unfulfilled due to anothers disobedience (that He knew would respond that way)?" We are not robots. God did not create us to be non-feeling animals. Everyone is given the opportunity to be obedient. And although He knew it, we all needed the chance to follow His leading.

I preached a message last week titled, "Responding to the Resurrection". It was a follow-up to the Easter message. In it, I categorized three responses that characters of the Bible had to the resurrection. One of them were the disciples on the road to Emmaus. I called this response group the "Confused". They were with Jesus and had heard his words. And they were with the others that Sunday morning when the women returned to tell them that Jesus was alive. They were those who Luke says did not believe the women because their words seemed like nonsense. So, they were walking home on this road and were pretty beat up over what had happened. They were trying to figure out just what was going on. They thought Jesus was the one that would set the Jews free. They were confused. The problem is not in Jesus' message. The problem is in their understanding. Their hopes did not meet with their expectations. They hoped that He would set them free. But their expectation was that it would be immediate and physical.

This is what we face today when God's will is not what we expect. Our hope does not meet with our expectation. What we hear from God may not look or feel like what we expect it to look or feel like. God's ways are not our ways. We cannot judge God by human standards. The bottom line is that we must remain faithful to walk daily with God, knowing that His hope and our expectation will remain perfectly in line as long as we stay together.

Our destination is pretty sure at this point. We feel called and the process is moving along. We hope to know something soon. I felt unsettled over the last week or so. It seemed that I was confused. A few days ago I sensed God encouraging me to release it fully, and then He would make it all fall into place. So, I spent some significant time in prayer and was able to truly release it. That evening I received confirmation and saw God do what He promised to do. It was amazing, life changing and faith building. May your road to be where God wants you be filled with obedience and faith.