Day 11 - Context

I had lunch yesterday with a friend of mine that I hadn't seen in a couple of years. It was awesome to see how much he has grown in his relationship with God. He's always been someone who inspires me to take God's commands literally and live them out. His trust in God is shown by his willingness to obey, even in the small things. If he feels the Holy Spirit leading him to talk to someone, he talks to them. If he senses that God is asking him to do something, he is willing to do it even if it doesn' t make sense.

OK, now forget everything I just said except for the last four words. Isn't that where we get hung up most of the time when God asks us to do something? Especially when we feel Him leading us in our daily lives as we walk through a store or drive down the street. Most of the time we... I don't immediately obey Him because of those four words.

What I forget though is that God is omniscient... He knows absolutely everything and He's using me to accomplish a small part of His universal will. So when God speaks to me, He's not only leading me to accomplish His will in that small situation, He is also putting this work in sync with a long line of things that are masterfully woven together in His universal plan. So, who am I, with such finite intelligence and understanding, to utter the words, "It doesn't make sense"?

Here is the key to all of this:

God always speaks in the context of HIS knowledge.

I think about Acts 9 when God tells Ananias in a vision that He is to go and baptize Saul. His first response is something like, "God, it doesn't make sense. Do you know who You're talking about? This guy has done so much harm to Your people." But God is speaking to Ananias in the context of His knowledge, not only of that moment, but also of what He knows Saul will do and become. God was calling Ananias with all of the people in mind that Saul would ever reach. He even knew that one day we would be reading his epistles and be encouraged and challenged by his words. God spoke in the context of His knowledge and thankfully Ananias believed that.

If we live and walk with that understanding, then those four words, "it doesn't make sense," will hopefully turn into these six words... "even if it doesn't make sense."

God, You are so smart and I rarely give You the credit and respect You deserve because of it. Father, continue to chip away at my human reflex of distrust and my need to understand. Let my spirit's reflex to Your words dominate and my response to you be immediate... even if it doesn't make sense. In Jesus' name, amen.