Wednesday, June 15, 2011

The day the Lord moved

“The Lord himself goes before you, and will be with you”. Deuteronomy 31:8


Have you ever reached a time when you felt exhausted with and by the things going on around you? Have you ever felt that you needed God to intervene in order for things to work? Yet at the same time the frustration of the situation overcomes you and you become so downcast? This was me the morning I was supposed to move out of my apartment. I was exhausted physically and emotionally. I had been planning this move the month prior, packing meticulously albeit slowly, but by the morning of, the task at hand just seemed so monumental; much more than I could handle and certainly more than I had anticipated. Everything about this move had been exhausting, from finding out that I needed to move sooner that I anticipated and the grueling task of finding a new place amidst having final exams. So by the morning of the move, I was defeated by what I saw in front of me. I heard the ‘bleep’ on my phone signifying my daily Bible verse text; I knew it was already 8 am and I prayed a simple prayer (or complaint), “God I don’t know how I’m going to do this!” The answer came in the form of that bible verse text message in Deuteronomy 31:8.


It was one of those moments you know God is going to work but you don’t know how. I just figured that I was going to get strength to work or somehow the packing would become magically easier than I thought. I looked at the boxes and then at all my stuff….if I worked nonstop for the next five hours, I thought, I should be good by the time the movers get here. The more I worked, the more insurmountable the work became. That was the end of myself and the beginning of God. God spoke to a dear friend who decided to come in earlier than planned and another friend who called and wanted to know if I needed help. I’m not sure why I had not even asked for help in the first place. Is it ever like that in your life, that you feel that you can do it all by yourself? It is uncomfortable to ask people for help, this is the culture of do-it-yourself; but this is not God’s way of doing things. My friend whom I had not even asked, in a heartbeat cleared not only hers but her family’s schedule for the day to come help me, and help me they did! I did not ask or tell or direct, they did what needed to get done. The movers were pleasant and worked hard.


God is so gracious, he is at work in our lives even when we cannot speak or do for ourselves. Let us not have such low expectations of God, he is our God, our Alpha and Omega. He says that his grace is sufficient for us and made perfect in weakness. I’m a planner, I could have probably planned this move meticulously and way in advance but because I was removed from it and indeed had little to do with how things turned out, I was able to see God intervening in this situation however minute it may seem. I can’t even put in words how much love I felt from those friends that day, but more importantly how much I felt that God was asking of me to just have a little bit more faith, be a bit more trusting and give up control of things I can’t even control. God takes care of the birds; in Luke 12 he says “How much more valuable are you than the birds!” If he can take care of birds, flowers and wild grass, we should know that our God cares about us in every situation! We need God and we need the fellowship of the people he has put around us. Let us seek God and his kingdom and he will reveal to us his perfect plan in our lives. Do not underestimate God and keep praying for he is about to move in your life if a way you may not have an understanding of and in the way that you need. We can trust him with all things big and small.

2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. So then I will boast most gladly about my weakness so that the power of Christ may reside in me.”

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