Into the Unknown
Breakfasting with our granddaughter at Chick Fil A Saturday morning, I appreciated her spunk. She is not tall enough to crawl up into the tubular play ground the conventional way and slide down, but she came up with "Plan B" and ventured into brightness of the unknown. Don't panic, I was quite aware there was no one coming down the slide or I would have put on my grandmama boots and gone to the rescue.
Her courage/inquisitiveness to head out on a great adventure was inspiring. How often does God call us on the simplest of adventures and we back away from the challenge spouting off excuses for how we are ill-equipped, too busy, or just out of our comfort zone? The Moses syndrome. (Now, I am not saying wandering in the desert for forty years is a simple adventure.)
It takes faith follow! Also, belief in the stories of our forefathers who must have sung..."Step by step He leads me and I will follow him all of my days." By faith, Noah hammered away (wait, did he even have a hammer or nails?) building a boat beyond belief. By faith, Abraham gathered up his gang and traveled to an unknown new home, having no idea where he was going. By faith, Rahab hid unknown spies on her rooftop and believed in their God (Hebrews 11:7-10, 31).
This week let's take a faith challenge into the unknown with God. Grab a notebook and get up a little earlier than usual (oh, don't groan...it's not a sacrifice compared to what Jesus did for us). Ask the Lord to speak to you and take you on an adventure with him each day.
Today, as I was praying, God gave me the phrase "clean slate". Immediately, I praised Him for how the sacrifice of Christ's blood cleans our sin slates each day. A young man I've been praying for came to mind and I asked the Lord to help him see himself as a clean slate full of hope for the things God plans to write with his life. Then I remembered a little slate board in our daughter in law's kitchen on which she writes scripture verses and encouraging messages for her family to meditate upon. God has placed upon my heart to purchase some chalk boards and I bet what he calls me to do with them, will be out of my comfort zone!
The Message translation of the Bible has an exciting entry in Isaiah 42 titled "The God Who Makes us Alive with His Own Life." We have a God who goes with us through the unknown.
Sing to God a brand-new song, sing his praises all over the world!...Make God's glory resound; echo his praises from coast to coast. God steps out like he means business. You can see he's primed for action....But I'll take the hand of those who don't know the way, who can't see where they're gong. I'll be a personal guide to them, directing them through unknown country. I'll be right there showing them what roads to take, make sure they don't fall in the ditch. These are the things I'll be doing for them-sticking with them, not leaving them for a minute.
