First, God’s plan for your life is exciting. Deep down inside you there is a dream. Occasionally that dream rises to the surface, only to be seen as impossible, scary, or perhaps even terrifying. Look with me at some Bible characters.
Noah: Something deep inside Noah told him that there was more to life than simply living for pleasure. He had deep inside him a dream to become someone different. God put that dream there and Noah nurtured that dream, resulting in him living a righteous lifestyle and becoming God’s man. God steps onto the scene and tells Noah to build a huge boat. Noah obeys and saves the human race.
Abraham: He obeys God and leaves his home country. But during the journey he gets scared for his life, so scared that he lies about his wife being his sister. He does this not once but twice. It’s a grand thought of being the man through whom God will bless all the nations, but becoming that man is scary. God comes through, gives Abraham the son of promise and all the nations of the earth are blessed as Jacob becomes the ancestor of the Lord Jesus.
Joseph: Proud and arrogant, Joseph is sold into slavery where it appears his dreams of becoming a man of influence will never materialize. However, Joseph decides he will not give up on God and continues to live his life with eternal goals. God comes through, gives Pharaoh a dream, Joseph interprets the dream, and Joseph ends up the 2nd most important man in Egypt, and thereby saving the nation of Israel from extinction.
Moses: God tells him to go deliver the people of Israel. Remember that Moses had already had that desire and tried, only to end up running for his life. Now Moses is terrified of going back and he tries every excuse he can think of to get out of it. God’s plan for Moses was so huge it terrified Moses, and without God’s help it was entirely impossible.
Gideon: Scared and frustrated, God’s angel shows up while Gideon is hiding and tells him that God wants to use him to free his people from their enemies. Gideon knows all the stories of how God has shown up before, but is so frustrated at God allowing them to be in the predicament they are in that he questions the angel if God is even remembers them. He is so scared of his first assignment that he does it at night. He lives through that and God gives him the next assignment. He desperately needs to know that God is really going to come through so he puts out a fleece asking God to make the fleece wet and the ground dry. When God comes through he is still scared and asks God to reverse the test the next night. God comes through for him again. Gideon is now good to go, even when God whittles his poorly equipped army down from 32,000 to 300, against a well equipped army of 135,000. Then when 15,000 get away Gideon is still ready to obey God. He pursued those 15,000 and defeated them with his army of 300.
I could go on with stories of David, Elijah, Samson, and others. But I think these are sufficient to make the point. While God does not call all of us to become national leaders, God does give each of us a dream. That longing, that desire, that dream that is deep inside us is God’s plan for our life. The problem is that we see that dream as impossible so we never nurture the dream. That dream is supposed to be impossible for us to accomplish on our own. That’s the point. It is so huge that the only way it can ever become a reality is if God shows up in our life and does it. Look again at all the examples I’ve listed, and think back to other similar stories in the Bible. We are not supposed to be able to do it apart from God. We were never designed to live our lives apart from God’s power. Our very design screams for God, so much so that when people don’t know the true God they make up images and idols as their gods and then they pray to those deaf and mute idols.
In Matthew 14 we read about Jesus walking on water and coming to the disciples who are in a boat. This takes place someone between 3 and 6 in the morning, meaning that the disciples have been working to cross the lake for around 9 to 12 hours. I’m guessing they are pretty tired by now. When the disciples see Jesus they scream out in fear. When Jesus tells them it is He, Peter boldly tells Jesus that he would like for Jesus to issue the command for him to walk to Jesus on the water. Peter knew that all that was needed is for Jesus to give the command and he would be able to walk on water. Jesus gives the command and Peter steps out of the boat and walks on water. Did you ever wonder what must have been going through the minds of those 11 other men in the boat? Why didn’t any of them them jump up and say, “Me too! Me too!” Why? Perhaps it' was because they knew that men can’t walk on water. Men are supposed to ride in boats. Peter knew that too, but it didn’t stop him. I think Peter had a dream. He wanted to experience more than what ordinary men experience. He wanted to go the extra distance, even if it meant being terrified half to death and stepping out of the boat. Living that dream drove Peter to attempt, and accomplish, the impossible feat of walking on water.
What do you dream of doing? What would you attempt if Jesus were standing right next to you, holding your hand, and telling you that you cannot fail? Wait! Don’t let that thought go! Hang on to it. Who cares if it’s ridiculous and impossible? Walking on water was impossible and ridiculous for Peter, but he did it just the same. God wants to show up in your life and in my life.
Hebrews 11:6 tells us that we cannot please God unless we trust Him. God wants to bring us to the point where we stop trusting ourselves and begin trusting Him. He wants to show up in our lives. Jesus said “It shall be done to you according to your faith” (Matthew 9:29 NASBU) Is it any wonder that our lives are ordinary, boring, and frustrating, when our Designer created us to live our lives by faith and in His power, yet we go about living our lives based on what we can do without His power?
If we are ever going to the abundant life Jesus promised us we must learn to let go of our way of living and step out in faith to experience God’s way of living. Is that scary? I’ll be the first to tell you that it is absolutely terrifying, and yet it is the most thrilling and exciting thing I’ve ever done. I have never experience anything so absolutely thrilling as seeing God show up in my life to do what I only dreamed of doing.
So, are you willing to let go of mediocrity and let God thrill you beyond your wildest dreams?
No comments:
Post a Comment