I like safety nets.
But I've been realizing more and more each day that God just might have the audacity to ask us to move down to San Antonio without jobs. Without a sold house.
Without a safety net.
Chris resigned both of his jobs two months ago. He is moving on faith, not sight.
I have talked with my administrator, but not resigned. I wanted a backup plan. I wanted to know that if somehow things "didn't work out" I would still have the job I love and the necessary income that comes with it. I wanted to be smart about this impending change. I wanted to do things in the right order. I have been living in the intent of faithfulness, rather than in the finality of acting in faith.
I think God's calling us to do things pretty backwards. Move before the assurance of a sold house, jobs, and the financial means to live after August. Or at least, backwards in American terms. Not so backwards biblically.
Abraham had no backup plan when he left Ur for the promised land.
Joseph had no backup plan when he found himself in Egypt.
Moses and the Israelites had no backup plan when they left Egypt.
Ruth had no backup plan when she left her home to go with Naomi.
David had no backup plan when he was anointed king while Saul still was king.
Mary had no backup plan when she found herself pregnant with God's son.
Jesus had no backup plan while he was spilling out his life on the cross.
God called them to all of these things, they obeyed, and then He provided. Although, His provision was not always what they thought it would be. And His provision thus far has not been what I thought it would be either. But He HAS provided.
On Monday, I'll be turning in my letter of resignation.
Lord, walk with us! Your plans are always better than mine.
"In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline —then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed."
-Hebrews 12:4-12
1 comment:
Have you ever been rappelling?
Rappelling can be a terrifying experience. You hook yourself to a little rope and walk backwards off a cliff, usually for no good reason. (Oh sure, maybe you want to prove you're brave, maybe you need to get somewhere down below, maybe it was a challenge. But in most of our daily lives, we don't rappel because we are forced to.) Before you start your very first descent, the cliff looks very high and the rope looks very small. You know intellectually that the rope will hold you, but when you are actually faced with possible death (or at least serious injury) you start to wonder just how strong that little rope is. Are you ready to trust it with everything you have?
And then you go over the edge. Maybe you go slowly, searching carefully for footholds, knowing that if worse comes to worse you could scramble back up. At some threshold you may not have even noticed, you have passed the point of no return. You can't get back up that cliff--the only way out is down. You don't have a backup plan.
Maybe you start to have some fun with it, or maybe you shake the whole way. But you go, because you don't have any other option.
And when you hit the ground, you are exhilarated. You're not thinking any more about how deeply frightening that first step was. You're thinking about how AWESOME you feel now. You want to tell other people about the experience. You want to know what else you can rappel down. You want to ride this high as long as possible, trusting your life to a little rope over and over again.
And maybe the next time you rappel it will be scary again. But now you know how it feels when you're finished--how it was totally worth it.
That rope may look small, and that cliff may look big, but the rope is strong enough to hold you.
How much stronger, then, is your God? He has a good plan for your life if you can trust Him. You're scared now, but He wants to support you until you reach the point of exhilaration. It's worth it.
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