It's a new year. Lots of people make lists at New Year's. I'm not one of those people, but this seemed like an apt moment to schedule the ponderings which came to me last year while reading a Bible story. So, take a journey with me, please.
David had built himself a house. Sitting there amongst all the grandeur and glory he got to thinking, Look at all I have, and God's only got a tent. That can't be right. I'm going to build Him a house! So, he told the prophet Nathan about his idea, and Nathan basically said (in today's vernacular), "That's an awesome idea! You should totally do that."
That night God came to Nathan and (in the condensed version) said, "Did I ever in the past few CENTURIES say I wanted a house?"
It wasn't a bad idea. It was good and godly, but God didn't want it.
Today, it might be equivalent to a rich man saying, "I'm going to build God a church!" But what if God didn't want one?
What if a piano player said they were going to start playing at church? Or someone decided to start a charity? What about teaching Sunday School? What about volunteering in the community? What about starting a devotional blog (cue a question for me!)?
It seems weird, doesn't it? That God might not want something that's good and godly.
How many times have we planned to do something for God and ran it by the friends or pastor test, but never asked God if He even wanted it?
I had all kinds of plans last year. They all seemed good and godly on the surface, but I'd never, not once, stopped and asked God if they were what He wanted. I wanted to write books to share the lessons God had taught me through stories. I wanted to start blogs, even a devotional one. Taking the abstract thoughts that came to me in my devotions and dwelling on them until they became a blog, really helped me grow spiritually. That's got to be fantastic, right? But I'd never asked God if He wanted me to share them.
Yeah, it's hard. To take that dream, that plan, that excitement and pause it.
Pause to pray.
It's scary too. What if God says no?
Well, do I really want to continue on my course without Him? Wouldn't that be worse?
Not every good and godly work is for you to do. We can't all be pastors, preachers, teachers, or church builders. We need people to take the low spot on the totem pole, or else the pole would topple over because it's top heavy.
But where are you?
Are you aiming for the top when God wanted you somewhere else?
Do you think it's presumptuous to aim high, but you don't want to be a nobody either, so you are somewhere in the middle where you don't belong.
Maybe you've let fear or a false humility keep you crowding the bottom of the proverbial totem pole.
Every place is important. Just make sure you are in the right place for you.
Have you taken your plans to God yet? Big plans, small plans, seemingly insignificant plans? Have you asked Him if He even wants the things you put on your list for Him?
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