Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. (Jeremiah 17:7)
Who is like the LORD our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people.
He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the LORD! (Psa 113:5-9)
Here’s one of my favorite things about our God and our life together with Him.
You and I look at the past in order to predict the future. We see past successes and say, “That’s a sure thing!” We look at present opportunities and read our lives like tea-leaves, “The future looks bright!” Past success and present opportunities are the best predictors of future fruitfulness, right?
Has it happened? Then it shall. Is it likely? Then let’s do it!
But the LORD our God looks for precisely the opposite situations.
He looks for places that have been barren, lives that have been so far seemingly failures, people who can’t do it right in places where it never gets done. He looks for poor investments. He looks for predictors of loss. He looks for track records of pain, disappointment, frustration, loss, grief, emptiness, and sorrow. And He says, “That’s a sure thing!” “The future looks bright!”
Why? How? Because He wants to get involved. And when He gets involved…
God isn’t a nose-counter or bean-counter—He doesn’t lead by early-adopting and He doesn’t direct by consulting the wind-sock, the stars, or the farmer’s almanac. Because God isn’t looking to share His glory and praise with anyone. He wants the praise. So He’s looking precisely for situations that seem least likely to be fruitful. He ignores our “predictors of future fruitfulness.”
God wants spontaneous praise. He wants us all to know His glory.
Maybe your sitting on a stone today, hoping it’s an egg but knowing deep down it’s a stone, it’s always been a stone, it’ll always be a stone. You’ve never won, never will see any fruit, and you know it and so does everyone else. And that subject or issue or problem is so stuck and rotten as to be dead and gone in your heart.
Good.
In the investment world (I’ve read) you present your business plan, your merits, your partners, your studies and your reasons why your idea will succeed. If it’s really good, they’ll give you money and help you succeed.
In the God-world (which is, by the way, THE WHOLE ACTUAL WORLD) you present your need, your failures, your loneliness, your ignorance and your argument for why it’s a bad idea that will certainly fail. And if it’s really barren of hope and there’s no other way for anything to help, He’ll step in. And everything will change.
That’s what I love about God. Isn’t God great? Isn’t life with Him just wild?
Photo by Tom Barret on Unsplash
