Last night I was talking to my mom on the phone about the events of the last few weeks. I told her how I thought we were in the right place with our new house, the listing of our current house…..with the boys new school and the issues that had come up surrounding that. I told her I felt like God was the center of everything, but that I continue to pray that if I try to do things my way that He will knock me down, because I only want to do things through Him.
The conversation kinda veered off from there to certain stories I’ve been reading in the Bible, and what it would have been like to be in these situations. It was kind of like playing pretend. I couldn’t possibly imagine what it was like for Elisha to just burn his cart and run off with some old prophet he never knew. I couldn’t possibly imagine what it was like to be fishing one day and to just drop your nets and follow someone named Jesus who said, “Follow me.” I couldn’t imagine what it would have been like to be on a fishing boat in the middle of a storm when Jesus wakes up and says, “SShhhh,” and the storm calmed down…..or when He was in the middle of the lake and told Peter to just hop over the side and join Him out there.
What was it that told these men to just go….to just drop everything….to just obey….to just do it? When I got off the phone I recapped the conversation to my wife…..and this was the first thing she said…….”You can never say the wrong thing, to the wrong person, at the right time.” MIND BLOWN!!!! I don’t have any idea where that came from (but I’m pretty sure I should know and I will get in trouble later for not paying attention to her.)
So the way I feel about our whole move, and the school…..I am certain now that’s the way Elisha felt, that’s the way Matthew felt when Jesus called him. “As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and He said to him, Follow Me! And he got up and followed him (Matthew 9:9.)” I’m sure that’s the way Peter felt, “Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. Immediately they left their nets and followed Him (Matthew 4: 18-19.)”
For all we know all of these men could have felt just like me….that they were in the middle of something but God had their backs….they knew they were on the right path, just waiting for something big to happen at the right time. For all we know God told Peter and Andrew, one day, to just go fish and one day something big would happen. For all we know when Jesus showed up on that shore that day, Peter and Andrew responded with a resounding, “God said you would be here one day…..we’ve been here fishing for years waiting for you to show up.”
So I believe more than ever that we are all in the right spot….the right time….the exact place we are supposed to be in. Not necessarily the place where our “Big thing” is going to happen, but in our place of preparation…..our place of learning…..our place of faith. And while we wait around patiently, know that Everything that is happening to you right now is in preparation for things that are to come.
But be careful when you are in this waiting place…..for in these times, it is still about doing what God wants….I know its hard to be patient, but there is a plan. We went to our church this morning and then I came home and watched Pastor Furtick talk about David in 1 Samuel. He spoke of a time when Saul was in a cave and David snuck up behind him and cut off a piece of his robe, when he could have killed him, to signify his taking over the Kingdom. Shortly afterward, David struggled with his conscience. “David’s conscious bothered him because he had cut off the edge of Saul’s robe. So he said to his men, Far be it from me because of the Lord that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, since he is the Lord’s anointed. David persuaded his men with these words and did not allow them to rise against Saul (1 Samuel 24:5-7.)”
You see, David knew his time was coming when he would be king…..and Elisha, Peter, Andrew, James, John….they all knew their time was coming when they would be able to fulfill their destiny….and I know my time is coming when I will step into mine. But in the meantime we must wait…..we must learn….we must pray…..we must study the word of God. We must listen and we must obey. WE MUST NOT GO IT ALONE!!!!
I pray that we can all remain patient, and all know our time is coming. I pray that we can wrap our minds around the fact that we are special too….just like Elisha and Peter. That we all have a destiny to fulfill that God has placed in front of us.
Tetelestai 