Afraid and running away

I know this is going to sound weird, but if I don’t say it, it will always be in the background of my year trying to encourage and understand how to be master of life on earth, sky and sea.

You see, when one obtains a close relationship with God, and He begins to mentor and develop a leadership character within, there comes a day when He calls to ask us to do something.

It is that call that scares the living … out of me.

I have been so close to Him and all of a sudden I pull away because I am afraid of that call.  Take a look at what I see in the Bible.  Abraham has to leave his entire family, Noah has to build a boat and for 120 years or so endure the laughter of his neighbours, King David ran most of his life, Jonah took off, Jeremiah couldn’t be married, Hosea had to marry a prostitute, Isaiah had to do stuff, Ezekiel crazy stuff and then there are others today.

Some have gone to work in the Garbage Village of Cairo, or in Mumbai – others past the Arctic Circle, others to Mongolia or Papua New Guinea.  Some have to carry a large wooden cross around the world, others have to stand up in a bus and proclaim the gospel and the list goes on.

At the end of the day, it’s all about trust.  I do not trust God to look out for me and so I keep in control of the situation and do not allow Him to get too near so that I actually cannot hear the call – in fact – I am running away.

Deep down I know that He is preparing me for the task for which He is calling me and that when the call comes, it will be something I would lay my life down for.  What makes it harder is that one of my youth, a 16-year-old boy, shared with me that he does not want to get too close to God because he is afraid that God will call him into ministry and his parents are totally against that – choosing between God and his parents is too great a task and he knows he will choose his parents over God and that will devastate him.  What do I tell him when I myself am running away from that same task?

Lord, before this year is out, if I am truly going to lead in the areas you have called me to lead, I have to stop being afraid and I need to stop running away.  A new, healthier fear may be the thought that if I don’t, I might be swallowed by a whale

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• Running From God

good and bad alike

I like talking about the rain falling on the good and the bad alike, or the sun shining on the good and the bad, but what about God‘s judgements – do they consume the good along with the bad?

Unfortunately, I believe so, and I say unfortunately because we understand rain and sun but judgement means that God does has the option of protecting the good ones.  We know that because with at least eight, for sure, seven of the plagues that hit Egypt in the time of Moses, none of them went on the land of Goshen.  However, we do remember that the last one, if blood had not been put on the door frames, even those in Goshen would have been affected.

We also hear from time to time people being spared because God deemed it so – from tornadoes, hurricanes, etc – I have heard some incredibly stories of God’s grace.

However, when the Lord appeared to Abraham, there was no doubt that He was going to destroy everything and everyone in Sodom and Gomorrah.  The negotiation for the good was that there might be just enough to spare the city.  Lot was spared, I am sure, not because he was necessarily good, but because he was related to Abraham.

What am I trying to say?

God’s judgements affect all of us.  We need to be praying for revival every day so that we become the Moses’ of our day – stand for the people.  By standing for the people, we stand for ourselves too.

May there then be someone negotiating for the number of good people before God consumes us in His judgement.

 

Since you have never traveled this way before

This is what adventures do – take you places you have never been – so it is incredibly important to make sure that you are far enough, not to far, but far enough behind what God wants you to do so that you do not miss a turn or miss a cue as to the direction or action you need to take to keep following.

We have talked about holding the hand of God on numerous occasions, but in an adventure, when something new is happening, it usually requires God going before us, preparing the way.

Christ has shown us the path to salvation, we continue to discern and be directed as to how to keep on the path, but because we are called individually to follow Jesus, each with our own calling and sense of purpose – the how we do this might be something we have never done before, nor have we seen being done by anyone else.  Quite the adventure and not for the faint of heart.

This is what walking by faith is really all about.  I immediately think of Abraham as an example of such a journey.

I am still a believer in early morning experiences with God – and I concede that I am a morning person – so no worries for you night hawks.  When you think about it though, if great things are going to take place today, it would be best to get an early jump on the day, right?  Sleep and poverty seem to go hand in hand in the proverbs

As our guide we have the Word to be our standard call to obedience and thereby trust, we have the direction given to us by the Spirit and we go with the peace of God (no peace, do not move), and to some extent, we have those who have gone before us, whenever that is applicable.

If we know God loves us, and we know that He will protect us, then we can proceed with boldness and cheerfulness.  So whether we fulfill our calling in poverty, pain, labour, persecution, reproach or death, we are seen as followers of our Author and Finisher of our faith and can we set our feet in any dangerous or difficult spot, through our whole journey.  Maybe if the footprints of Jesus can be seen before us, then we can set ourselves to place our steps in the same footprints that He made.

One note that I was reminded quite vividly about this morning – we need to set ourselves apart, given to wholeheartedly following Jesus so as to be able to move completely free in the power of God’s love, free from sin, and not in a place where we might grieve the Holy Spirit.

 

Related articles

• The Holy Spirit – Fr. Thomas R. Harding, Th.D. (epages.wordpress.com)
• “The truth will make you free” (worryisuseless.wordpress.com)