This is my day…as I make my way about the house, doing various tasks and chores, I have company the whole way. This is Phoebe and Zoey. As the only person in the house all day while Shawn is at work and the kids are at school, I have their undivided attention. When I move, they move…when I do dishes, they lay at my feet (which we have discovered can be dangerous if I don’t watch out :)…when I fold laundry they sit at my side…and whenever I stop and look at them, this is what I see. They look up at me, they sit, and the look on their faces is one of hope and great expectation.
As pathetic as it seems when they do this, as I thought about the picture, it came to mind that this is exactly how we should respond to God. In our relationship with Him, we should follow…move when He moves, wait where He stands still, and be available while He works in us and through us. We need to be looking to Him with hope and great expectation.
As I get ready to pack up a few things for the girls and I to move back up north for the summer, I am amazed at how quick I am to forget. I look to God with great expectation, but it’s an expectation which limits Him to what I can understand. I take what I know of God and try to predict how He will move. The more I know God through His word, study and prayer, the more I think I’ve got Him figured out and the more He surprises me at every turn.
In the midst of all this turmoil, I find myself reciting the same words (within different circumstances) that the Israelites did, “Why did you bring us here? Just to put us to shame and bring us to financial ruin?” SHAME ON ME! How many times have I judged the Israelites in the Old Testament for uttering those words (or something similar) over and over again along their journey? And here I was, doing the same thing! I had forgotten!
If you click on the “This Is Me” link or the “Shawn’s Accident” link at the top right corner of this page, you will see how faithful God is and has been. We have a very dramatic story and yet we still forget. People always say that if THEY had been there for the plagues on Egypt or the pillar of cloud and fire, or if they had only SEEN Jesus, then they would surely believe…POPPYCOCK! We are no different than those we so quickly judge in the Bible! I pray that we WOULD be one like Joshua with fearless faith and faithful obedience, but as it stands right now, I’m still pressing on toward that goal.
After realizing the blatant disregard for my history with our Heavenly Father, I prayed and asked Him to forgive me. Specifically for limiting Him and His capabilities into my estimation of how to glory Him best. Now that I think about it, I’m MUCH braver than I have ever given myself credit for, to speak to the Creator of heaven and earth and counsel Him on how best to glorify His Name…wow…brave (as in a complete disregard for His awesomeness), prideful, and flat out stupid. And He loves me anyway, much like Zoey and Phoebe; though they can be incredibly stupid, I still love them.
God not only loves us but He desires to give us far more than we could ever imagine!
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” -Ephesians 3:14-21 (emphasis added)
It’s like expecting chocolates for Valentine’s Day and getting a trip to Paris! God is not bound by our comprehension of Him…He’s far bigger and more powerful than we will ever be able to understand…so I need to stop trying to predict how awesome He is going to be and take the advice of Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that [He] is God” ([He]is originally “I” in the text) So I am, by God’s grace and strength through His Spirit, waiting and watching to see what marvelous things His has in store. It is only through times like these that my attention is brought back to His greatness in my weakness and I have the mindset to look unto Him with great expectation.