Better Hands

Through all of the different talks I've participated in at campus ministries, I've heard a recurring struggle from many friends that hindrances our faith. It has been somewhere along the lines of, "I want to live His will, I just don't know what His will is." And that's frustrating, isn't it? We try to reason that our hearts want only His will to be done, but oftentimes that doesn't appear to us right when we perceive we need it most.

I am not intending this to be a "3 steps to overcoming ____" guideline, but the Lord has been steadily revealing to me the reasons why He does what He does, and why that is enough to leave in capable Hands.

So why don't we get the prophetic answer now?:

1. We must first be obedient in the small things. Just as with tithing, if you are disobedient with a small covenant what will become of one much larger? This idea is a more simple one that we may not easily want to agree on: we aren't ready! He takes us through seasons for a reason, and although they are unknown to us at the time, they are meant to break, refine, and mold us into what we need to be. Our faith is proved true through trials (1 Peter 1:6-7), and that's not exactly something we naturally desire to experience on our road to our call.

2. We tend to proceed in pride. I am not referring to the kind of pride that boasts of what we are (or plan on) accomplishing (although that it may be reason enough in itself!). I'm talking about the issue of autonomy; our own self-governance. A couple of months before starting college I went through a small crisis of praying earnestly for God to show me where I should be. Following the wrong path would not only be a set-back in time, but a significant waste of money. So I cried out. I tried to reason with Him that I wanted to know His will and allow it to be done in my life, and once I am aware of it I will do all I can to reach it... whatever it takes.

But that's just the thing, my plea was to do whatever I could do. The focus was no longer Him, but me trying to do work with natural abilities that require supernatural ability to accomplish. How dare I think that my human intent is capable of His divine intentions? He answered with a strong word that can be summed up in these few words--it must be taken a step at a time. If we were to know our call and do all the things that we could to achieve it, the glory would only be in our hands, there would be no measure of faith in Him necessary. Faith in incomplete if there is no need to use it!

3. Finally and possibly the most important reason why we may not receive our call right away: 

It might scare us. 

This reason was actually the first revealed to me through my youth pastors and leaders while I was in middle school, and did not stop through my duration in my youth group. In fact, it is probably one of the sturdiest foundations of my walk that I grasp onto. Our call might scare us. And quite frankly, maybe it should! If we are called to do that thing that most frightens us and sends us into anxiety today, image how much of a testimony will be produced when we are walking in it.

I also remember one of my pastors sharing that the fear may even make us run away from the call. We allow ourselves to accept self-inadequacy, when really the Lord is urging us to allow His strength to be made evident in our weakness. The word says to do all things for the glory of God, and if His glory demands our weakness (and it does, friends), then so be it!

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."
~ Proverbs 19:21 (NIV)