rest in the unknowing
I don’t know about you, but I sure can spend a lot of time trying to figure out the Lord’s will “once and for all”.
Funny how little of our life is truly lived in that space. Seasons change, so do routines, activities, hobbies, feelings, desires and so much of life. At times, I can extrapolate heart changes, culmination of recent life experiences, common themes of passages in Scriptures that keep coming back to my mind and almost walk in certainty of where God is leading or what He is desiring to do. I do believe the Lord uses all these means to reveal His will or leading in particular times. Where I tend to err is to think that these leadings are set in stone, lifelong even. Some may be, but definitely not all.
My husband, David, has been blessed with this grace of not having “to know”, but rather just allow the Lord to unfold our lives. Recently, we were talking about something, and I was laying out all these similar circumstances and conversations, convinced I was certain on what the Lord was going to do or not do in our lives. I asked my husband what he thought, and he simply said, “I don’t know, but if the Lord wants this for us, I don’t want to miss out on that blessing. If He doesn’t, than I am perfectly content with that as well.”
Wow!
I am not there yet, but I long to be! I have been mulling that over more and more. I had spent much time dwelling on that one issue, when honestly it really didn’t matter whether I had “figured it out” or not.
Where Should We Lay?
Peace doesn’t come in the knowing, it comes in the trusting and resting. Trusting that our God has a plan.
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:11-13 ESV)
God gave these words to the prophet Jeremiah to direct and encourage the Israelites while in their captivity in Babylon, calling them back into right communion with Himself.
Trusting that His plan is good as per Romans 8:28 “and we know that all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purposes.”
I find myself wondering about this “good”.
There are times it does not feel good. I think back to when my brother was killed in a truck accident at 21 or when we walked through several miscarriages. I am sure there are times in your life where you found yourself feeling the same way.
That is when I must remind myself that “my good” (my comfort, preference or plan) does not necessarily match up with “His good”.
His good involves seeing from His eternal perspective! His “good” can involve souls being saved through tragedies or hardships I might walk through. I must keep reminding myself that His perspective and sight is perfect. His character is good. He can be trusted, even in the toughest of heartbreak in this world.
Not Safe…But Good…Yes!
In the C.S. Lewis book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, one of the main characters, Susan, upon entering through the wardrobe into Narnia, meets up with a talking beaver. They are talking about the rumors of Aslan returning to the area. In this book, Lewis penned Aslan to portray Christ, and intentionally mirrors scenes throughout the book to reflect this.
Mr. Beaver was telling Susan more about who Aslan was. “Aslan is a lion-the Lion, the great Lion.” “Ooh”, said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion”…”Safe?” said Mr. Beaver….”Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” (Lewis, C.S. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe pg 93)
Safe, no, we think of believers currently suffering persecution all around the globe for His name. We think of martyrs of the past like Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, and many others. Then, we read of the stories only God could script. In China, a country under great persecution, the church is thriving and growing more exponentially compared to other countries that permit religious freedom.
We read of how Jim Elliot’s wife, Elisabeth and Nate Saint’s sister, Rachel went and lived among those same villagers who speared those men to their deaths. The Lord sovereignly used them to share the lifesaving message of the Gospel with them. They were able to see those villagers turn their lives over to Jesus. I would encourage you sister, that is the “good” that our God sees. (Elliot, Elisabeth Through Gates of Splendor) It can be tough when we lose sight that this this world is not our home.
“For we do not have an enduring city here; instead, we seek the one to come.”(Hebrews 13:14)
Proper Perspective
Resting in His sovereignty that nothing will thwart His plan; that He is fully able! In Genesis 18, we read of the Lord visiting Abraham and telling him the news of Sarah having a son, and Sarah responds with laughter. In verse 14, the Lord said “Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.”
The same theme repeated in Jeremiah 32: 17 “Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.” and later on in verse 27 “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?”
“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”(Isaiah 40:12,28-31)
When I reflect on the intricacies of this world, areas I have not even considered to fathom, I suddenly feel so small.
Rightly so!
The king of this world, this whole universe, He holds it all. I do not need to try to figure out what is going on. He asks me to just trust. This trust is where He longs for me to live. This continually seeking after Him each day provides opportunity for me to truly come to know Him. In pursuing after Him, I discover His leading, learn of His character and bear witness to more of His love.
He may redirect me to another path in time. And that is okay. You see, as we learn to walk with Him each day and grow in our dependency upon Him, we find Him beautifully trustworthy and capable of guiding our lives. That unrest and lack of peace, well that is from the enemy of our souls. We must not let him lay claim to our lives or our days.
Let us come to Him, and find rest. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
Let us find peace in living in the “not knowing”, realizing our truest rest comes in trusting Him. Blessings!
