Great is Thy Faithfulness
Fri, Jul 11, 2008
Perhaps the scariest part about planting a church is not the question of where or how. You know, “where will the money come from?” or “how will we find the people who need to know God?” The scariest part is sitting in complete faith that God has all of that lined out. You see, I’m a bit persistent (Jenni would call it obsessive compulsive) when it comes to needing to know how and where. I spin my wheels trying to “make” something happen. I will spend hours, days, weeks and months making plans and gutting ideas. I want to know now!
But God does not work like that. He is not some crazy haired scientist who is bouncing back and forth throwing things around that are not yet ready to be moved. God is a gentleman. He does things perfectly and perfection is as much in the timing as it is in the execution. I have been thinking about the sun. It is never early, it is never late, it is always on time - at the exact right moment, the sun peeks its face over the horizon and brings us light and life. God is not in a rush. God does not worry about where and how - He has it all figured out. Now it is time to learn to rest in His perfection and follow his wonderful - scary - lead!
Lamentations 3:22-24
22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
Tags: Church Planting, Following Jesus, god, Ministry
July 11th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Another aspect of this same idea that I have been thinking a lot about lately is how not only can we trust God to provide for our own lives but for other people as well. I am not just talking about keeping our friends and family safe and providing for their physical needs but it applies to things much deeper than that.
For example two friends that aren’t getting along with each other. I used to think it was important to step in and play mediator to try to fix things (blessed are the peacemakers right?). Now I am learning to trust that God is working in their lives too. I can pray for them, I can be there for them, but only they, by the grace of God, can mend the broken relationship.
Realizing this takes a huge weight off of my shoulders and allows me to trust God. Then when the problem does get fixed I can see all the more how God slowly and carefully orchestrated the solution, not me.
July 11th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Yeah, that’s good! I remember being in high school and over hearing Dan Mitchell saying something to that effect. It was the first time I cognitively realized that God is actively working in other peoples lives, just like He’s working in mine…