Divine GPS

I read somewhere recently that trust and understanding rarely accompany one another. Truer words were never spoken.

It seems recently that as I begin to engage in this next chapter of my life, the more I am learning to trust and the less I understand. The simple but deep revelation that is settling into my heart is that if I understood everything, there would be no reason for me to trust.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart 

and lean not on your own understanding."

Proverbs 3:5

This familiar verse has made its way across my path several times in the past few days, and I am learning to slow down and listen when the Lord is trying so persistently to capture my attention. 

When I see these words, one of the first things that comes to my mind is one evening several years ago when I was speaking at a ladies' meeting at church. My message was on trust, and I opened my hardcover Bible to the page where this verse was found. 

As I spoke, I began to casually but carefully tear the page out of my Bible, much to the horror of some of the ladies there. I held the page up and said, "This is my understanding."

I then held up a pen and said, "And this is me."

Holding the page just above the podium, I tried in vain to lean the pen into the page. Needless to say, the very thin paper could not support the weight of the pen, and the pen just kept falling. 

I carefully placed the page back inside the Bible, closed the Book and said, "But watch this. When I submit my understanding to God's and allow His Word and His understanding to surround mine..." I stood the Bible up on the podium and successfully leaned the pen into the Bible, which, of course, was plenty strong to support it. My point was made. 

I still have that Bible, and that page is still folded and rests in its rightful place. It serves as a constant reminder to me of how feeble my understanding is and that my need to fully trust Him is great. 

"In all your ways acknowledge Him, 

and He will make your paths straight."

Proverbs 3:6

As we encounter the stuff of life that presents itself to us every day, it is the acknowledging of Him that proves to be the greatest challenge. In order for me to acknowledge Him, I have to be still long enough to take my hands off the stuff and what I think the outcome should be and ask Him what His plan is in it. He promises that if we will simply do that, just stop and ask for His direction, He will make the path straight before us. 

It's like a divine GPS navigation system. Only the desired destination (destiny) has already been entered for us. He is giving us the directions. We just have to listen and follow the straight path that He is placing before us. 

The direction I think things are going seems to be changing almost daily, and as the Lord keeps gently reminding me, my security is not in the circumstances that surround me. My security lies in the quiet confidence that I am being closely held in the shadow of the Almighty, nestled safely next to His heart. Here is where I have found my hope.

"In repentance and rest is your salvation,

in quietness and trust is your strength..."

Isaiah 30:15

Transitions

After what seems like an eternity, I am finally sitting down to write again. Not that there has been any lack of material to write about. It's just that sometimes life necessitates that we focus more of our attention on living it than writing about it. Such has been this season for me.

So much of what I see happening around me right now involves transition. It seems that since the last few months of 2009 until now, not a week goes by without someone I know engaging in a change of some kind - new jobs, new homes, new cities, new engagements, new pregnancies. It is no coincidence that the word all of these things have in common is the word "new."

"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?"

Isaiah 43:19 

This verse says two things to me:

1. God is fully engaged in an ongoing creative and restorative work in our lives.
2. If we aren't paying attention, we might miss it.

It is so easy to get so intertwined in the stuff of life that we lose sight of who He is, who we are, and why are here.

He is the God of the Universe, the Creator of all that is, the King of all Kings and Lord of all Lords. We are His children, growing up to be His friends, and maturing to become His Bride. We are here simply to know Him and to make Him known to all nations. Oh, and by the way - all nations starts right outside our own front door.

It's the "Do you not perceive it?" part of this verse that grips my heart and causes my gaze to be lifted from the things I clutter my life with to look up into His eyes. It is like He is saying, "Hello? Did you hear anything I just said? Weren't you even paying attention?"

There is a re-positioning happening all around us. God is maneuvering His people into the places and positions we must be in for this next chapter in human history. There is movement in the heavenlies, just as there is movement in the earth. The very foundations of the earth are literally shifting and shaking, causing great destruction on the surface. Minor and major earthquakes are in the news almost daily.

We would be foolish to not recognize this as a physical manifestation of what is also happening in the spirit realm.There is restructuring and movement in the deep spiritual places that will cause great disturbances on the surface of life as we have known it. There are surface issues that need to be shaken apart and broken loose so that true deliverance, restoration and freedom can come.

The questions we must ask ourselves are these:

• Do we perceive it? Are we paying close enough attention to recognize what God is doing?
• Are going to resist the change, go along grudgingly, or fully embrace the new thing He is doing?

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.

 See, I am doing a new thing!
       Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
       I am making a way in the desert
       and streams in the wasteland."

Isaiah 43:18-19