The How Doesn't Concern You

 

This topic has been on my heart for a while now.  It is the third week in January and to say that this year has already come with its tests would be an understatement.  I started the year out with a congregational fast.  I was so pumped in the beginning and right around day 7 I started to get hit with dart after dart.  I knew that my obedience was being met with opposition but that was not going to distract me.  Then another trial came.  It was one that I knew was coming down and therefore was preparing for.  So far I was passing with flying colors.  Then came the big blow just a week and half ago.  It was unexpected.  It was a curveball that I was wholly unprepared for.  A trial that literally implicated all the areas of my life that I worked so hard to be a good steward with.  And just like that it was all on the line. 

The decision was a no brainer. But what about the how?  How would I do it?  Where would I get the means? I counted with what I have and it was just about enough but then it would be done.  I considered my plans, and just how it would play out.  I couldn't picture it.  So I prayed.  I prayed fervently asking God to show me what to do.  My heart was a bit worried but I knew God had me.  Then the next thing popped up that made it all seem impossible.  I sought professional advice.  There was still a possibility.  It wasn't impossible.  So I stood on that word--but still wanted to ask God how?  How will it happen, God?  How will we do it?  How will the provision come? How will we be good stewards?  How, how, how, and how.....

As I prayed over the last week and a half I felt my heart increasingly move from the questions and the pleas for God's will to be done to thanking him in advance.  Thank you for the provision.  Thank you for the answered petitions.  Thank you for this new chapter.  Thank you for the wisdom to maneuver in this new chapter.  And somehow I have a whole lot of peace and a teeny tiny bit of worry.  I'm not out of the thick of it.  I still don't know the how. But one thing is for sure and two things are for certain: (1) I know the WHO!; (2) I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor his children begging for bread!  So even without the details, the blueprint or the how-to manual, my spirit within me knows who God is and that He is in control.  

Today in church service my pastor preached on turning the prayer into praise.  He explained that when God has decreed something in heaven, we must pray it out here on earth for it to come to fruition.  We don't decree of our own volition, but we declare what God has already decreed once we pray His will for us.  Therefore, there must be a shift in our prayer.  At some point, the "thy will be done" and prayers/supplication asking God for things MUST turn into praise and thanksgiving for what He is about to do.  The key to this is that we give thanks BEFORE we see it with our own eyes.  We give thanks in anticipation.  Even if we don't know what God is doing.  Even if we don't see what God is doing.  Even if we don't understand what God is doing.  We can rest on these truths:

 1) God is the same yesterday, today and forever.  He is the great I AM!  When we don't understand what He is doing or we don't know what He is doing we can rest assured that it will be for our good since He is our good Father, and He does not change with the seasons.  

2) God is in control!  Before the world was formed God knew all things.  He decreed from his throne in heaven that earth would be created, that the universe would be, and formed us and placed a purpose in us.  He knows the plans He has for us.  And there is nothing that happens that He is not in control of.  

 3) He will never leave you nor forsake you!  God's love can never be taken away from us.  There is nothing we did to deserve it; therefore, there is nothing we can do to lose it.  No matter what is going on in our lives He is right there where we are! 

4) Even if you don't see it He is working!  Waymaker is one of my favorite worship songs.  It describes these four points in a nutshell.  It explains who God is in our lives and that He will never change.  And the bridge states, "even when I don't see it you're working. You never stop, You never stop working."  That is the end of it.  No matter how it looks.  No matter how it feels.  He is working, and He never stops.  All things are working for our good, and He never stops working.  What God started He will ALWAYS finish. 

Be encouraged my brothers and sisters.  We are only in week 3 of the year.  There's 49 weeks left to go.  God is not done yet!  Let your prayers turn to praise and don't be concerned with the how.  Just know that God has it all under control!