This past Sunday the congregation sat down.
We’d been singing about broken pieces being made whole through amazing grace. Hands were lifted high and hearts were soft. The song drew to a close, the youth pastor prayed, and the whole congregation sat down. In our minds, the prayer signaled the end of the worship set. But worship wasn’t over yet.
That slow, tender song soon transitioned into an upbeat anthem declaring that His love is the one thing that remains through it all. The looks of uncertainty on the congregation’s faces were evidence of their confusion—should they remain seated or should they stand to their feet again? People slowly began standing up around the room. Some stayed in their seats.
As I got lost in worship again, I felt an almost tangible increase in the energy level in the room. I found myself looking around and was blown away. The beauty on the faces of His people proclaiming His love was breathtaking. Regardless of whether they were sitting or standing, people were worshipping with their whole hearts.
As I sat down for the morning’s message, I remember thinking “We thought worship was over, but it wasn’t. God had more for us today! His plan is not our plan—He wants more for us!” I had no idea the parallels that would soon be drawn in my heart.
That morning’s message from our youth pastor was about walking in the call God has placed on our lives. We read from Genesis when God instructed Abram to leave his country and go to the land he would show him. The Lord said to Abram:
“I will make you a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:2-3, NIV, emphasis mine)
We can’t ignore the future tense used in the scripture. The Lord was showing Abram a glimpse of the plan He had for his life, but it wasn’t going to happen just yet. In faith, Abram took his family and journeyed to the land of Canaan. It was there that the Lord appeared again to Abram and told him that He would give the Promised Land to Abram’s offspring.
Abram was looking into the Father’s heart and seeing what seemed like an impossible calling. He was seventy-five years old, and his wife Sarai was barren. How could the Lord promise to make him a father of nations and promise the land of Canaan to his children when he and Sarai were old and without child?
Abram didn’t know what the fulfillment of God’s promises would look like, but he trusted God to do what only He could do. Abram’s faithfulness to take God at his word was evident as he built an altar to the Lord and worshipped in the midst of what seemed like an impossible calling. Even though Abram didn’t know it at the time, the entire redemptive story of Christ would unfold through the fulfillment of God’s promises to him.
Just like Abram, God has a call on our lives. He dreams dreams in our hearts that only he could dream. Like Abram, all we have to do is be faithful to walk with him and worship as we go. He looked past his age and Sarai’s barrenness and chose to believe God’s call on his life.
How many times do we fail to see beyond our current situation or the obstacles in our path and get discouraged?
- When you’re unsure of your place within a ministry where you serve…
- When a new job opportunity falls in your lap…
- When you desire a stronger church community to help build up your faith but God continues to keep you where you are…
- When your heart is overwhelmed with sadness and hesitancy because you’ve been called to sever yourself from a comfortable place of ministry and serve somewhere else…
- When the Lord breaks your heart for a foreign nation and you’re unsure what the call to missions will look like in your life…
- When it’s hard to love the people you’re commanded to love in the workplace or your neighborhood…
- When your heart desires remain unmet and your faith begins to waver…
Just like the congregation misreading the prayer Sunday morning as a cue to sit down, I sometimes misread obstacles in my walk as my cue to sit down and not progress with Him in his calling for my life. God has more for us than we could ever begin to imagine, and His plans are far greater than our plans. He continues to make beautiful things out of our places of fear and doubt.
When we face these uncertainties, we can’t just sit down. We have to intentionally seek Him in prayer, spend time in the Word, and worship Him. God does not call us to sit. He calls us to walk in our calling with thankfulness and praise for the things He has done and will do in our lives.
Do you know someone who is discouraged with their life right now? Would you email them this post to encourage them?
The post Are You Misreading God’s Cues? appeared first on SingleRoots.
