With Advent season upon us, I have found myself diving into the Old Testament. Noah, Abraham, Joseph...so many stories of men who were asked to do completely crazy, irrational things. Things the world, in some cases, literally laughed and jeered at. Noah building a boat in the desert, claiming the Lord was going to send a flood. Abraham believing he would be the father of nations when he and his wife are barren and long past the days of fertility. Joseph trying to wrap his head around the idea that his wife was pregnant with God's baby...I mean, come on. Can you imagine calling up a girlfriend or even God-loving mentor and trying to convince them that the Lord was calling you to any of these things!? I can only imagine the embarrassment as they tried to walk this out especially in the season of waiting. Although an angel had appeared to many of them and confirmed the upcoming events, that same angel hadn't called all their friends and neighbors.
With that being said, I don't know why I am ever surprised when the Lord calls me to do things that the world is going to think is crazy. It is kind of His thing. He is a big God...one who makes impossible possible, so in order to prove His point, He looks for the most outrageous. He looks for the most broken. He looks for the nonsense.
Many of us, especially if we have been connected to unfaithfulness, have walked this shame-filled obedience. Perhaps forgiveness did come with reconciliation and as we took steps toward the restoration of a marriage, we felt the judging eyes of everyone around. Not all the judging eyes were just for gossip; some of them truly concerned for our well-being, but in the end seeing only the natural circumstances rather than the supernatural one working the miracle. This is especially hard when these eyes are family and friends who we love dearly...the one's who we really want to approve and see the big grand deed the Lord is doing...the one's whose disapproval stings the worst. We find ourselves tossed between following a conviction we feel strongly is from the Lord while the world lays down the facts for us and shakes its head. This path is undeniably hard. What makes it harder is that if many of us are honest, this isn't the solution we were hoping for either. We have our own internal struggle between our pride and trusting the Lord's way. Then, you throw in the voices from outside, never believing the Lord could truly redeem and this crazy plan seems exactly that: crazy.
If you know my story, then you can only imagine how insane every outsider thought I was to walk out reconciliation. Not only was there the unfaithfulness that had to be dealt with, but there were actual legal consequences that would have to be lived out. I knew what the Lord was calling me to do, but if I chose to be obedient to His way, absolutely nothing made sense. Take on consequences that weren't my own?! Alter my future and my children's future life? Every detail seemed to be touched by his sin: his career, our address, our reputation, even our church life. And then I would be reminded how big my Savior really was. I was Peter...walking on water...until I turned to the left or right and then I would sink.
By the grace of God, I fixed my eyes on Him. He surrounded me with people who believed God did crazy things and when my eyes would veer off, they would set me back straight. Detail by detail, Jesus worked out the impossible. Even today, He is still calling us to crazy things. I like to believe that I doubt Him a little less every time He puts His next over- the- top path in front of us. That I am just a little more willing to take a faithful step. I've definitely seen his work first hand. After all, it did eventually rain in the desert for Noah, Issac was born to Sara in her old age, and Jesus really did come as a baby to save us all. What crazy place is He asking you to go?
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