Has God ever asked you to do something that you thought was absolutely insane? I don’t mean quite as insane as, say, building an ark when no one had ever seen rain before. Or submitting yourself to a hungry lion’s den. Or sacrificing your only son despite the seeming direct contradiction to the previous promise of a long legacy of fatherhood. But, in the same way, maybe it was something that made you feel like you were going to look stupid or foolish in the process, something that took you way out of your comfort zone, or something that was counter-intuitive and contrary to mainstream thought. Maybe it was something that tested your faith in God’s goodness and faithfulness because it would put you in a place where you could stand on nothing else. If this was the case, it was also something with an extremely high potential of leaving you vulnerable and afraid, because you knew the outcome was utterly out of your control.
The question is, though… Did you do it?
Repeatedly throughout Scripture, the promises God makes toward those who trust Him- even when it doesn’t make sense – are incredible. Where they are not written out explicitly, they are woven intricately into every detail of the story God has crafted. And I think there is something within each of us that desperately longs for those promises to apply to us. I believe that’s part of the image of God written upon our hearts.
The hard part is confronting our prideful need to feel in control of our circumstances. Trusting God enough to follow Him to some crazy places means that we allow ourselves to be vulnerable to the unknown and the unsafe. Believing that He is only and always good, and works all things for the good of those who love Him, means navigating each day knowing that, ultimately, He has the last word on how the story will end. The lie we all like to believe is that we can control our destiny. And God likes to allow the events of our lives to shatter that lie, and force us to confront how much we really must trust Him.
The Lord speaks to us with purpose. Our lives are just a small by-line in the story He has crafted. The real story is about Him, and His power to redeem all things to Himself. Ultimately, he does not need our help to make any part of the story work out “right.” But, what a privilege to walk out the story so freely trusting Him to write your own life as a picture of redemption and grace to those around you.