Heart Tracks - He Lives

"A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also." John 14:19

Some years back I wrote this prayer in my journal; "In the monotony of life and ministry, help me to know that my unchanging, but ever surprising God, lives."

Life, and especially ministry, can enter into long stretches of monotony, sameness. Sometimes for very long stretches. Nothing seems to be happening. Like the Israelites, we continue to circle around a mountain over and over again. We see the same things, experience the same things, and have been at it so long that the path we walk has become a rut. A very deep rut. Where is God? Why are we here? Will there ever come a time we're not here? We're weary of the spirit draining sameness of it all. We can feel ready to just stop walking, to sit down, and stay down. Yet if we'll listen, hear Him, the Holy Spirit will whisper into our heart, "Keep on walking. I have so much more for you than this."

It's so tempting in these places to want to break out, forge a new direction. We've had enough of the drudgery, the sameness, the thought that nothing ever changes, or ever will change. Yet, I've found that these urges seldom come from the Spirit of the Lord. Whenever that feeling of "I've got to do something," comes, we can be sure it is not coming from Him. If He's leading us out of a path that we're in, there will be a calmness, an assurance, and a restful waiting for Him to open the door unto a new direction. If those are not present, than we're acting on a flesh impulse, and the result will always be at best, something much less than His desire for us, and at worst, a total disaster. The landscape of faith is littered with those who sought to forge their own way and were flung to the ground in defeat. We see this in the abandonment of marriages, ministries, relationships, professions, life. We want to pursue change from our sameness. He desires that we pursue Him in the midst of it. And trust Him that He knows the way we take, even when that way seems to be leading us to nowhere. We see it as just another day in the desert. He sees it as an opportunity to go deeper into Himself.

In Exodus, God finally spoke to the people through Moses, saying to them, "You've circles this mountain long enough. Turn north." That direction contained challenges, dangers, threats, and yes, more times of sameness and monotony. We live in a fallen world, but if we will look to Him, look for Him, we will discover that though He is unchanging, He is also ever surprising. He will invade our times of circling the mountain, and reveal aspects of Himself we've never known before. He calls us to "follow hard" after Him, which translates into following Him while clinging so tightly to Him, that an onlooker would not be able to distinguish any space between us.

Are you circling your own mountain today? In your marriage, your job, your ministry, your life? Keep on walking. Keep on trusting. Keep on looking and listening for Him. Your unchanging, ever surprising God lives. And He lives for you, as you go ever deeper into life in Him.

Blessings,
Pastor O