Scripture reading for today: Acts 16 – 17; Psalm 113
Our need for restoration is profound. All sorts of life events can lead us to conclude that maybe we’re losing our minds. Have you ever waited up for a child who is out long past curfew? How does it feel to discover that someone you love has betrayed you? When life is moving along at a nice clip and your yearly physical reveals a life-threatening health condition, do you feel like you fell into a big hole and landed in a nightmare? Stressful times play havoc with our minds and bodies (more on that in a few days.)
Sometimes it doesn’t take a stressful event to make me look like a nut. The other night I was trying to introduce a new visitor to an old regular at church. I’m glad the old regular has a sense of humor. I went through three names before I got his right! I knew Butch’s name as well as my own. But at my age, sometimes the wires don’t connect as quickly or predictably as they once did. Sometimes fatigue, hormones, physical illness, over-working, and under-relaxing can cause us to seriously need a restorative touch.
The most interesting case of crazy that I experience is being surprised by God. Take for example the two prison stories we’ve recently read in Acts. In story one, Peter is in prison and God sets him free. In the story today, Paul is in prison, is miraculously freed, and then is instructed to stay put. The jailer almost commits suicide because he’s expecting the prisoners to have vanished after a God-inspired earthquake opens the prison doors and casts off the chains. Paul and the others reassure him and the warden accepts Christ as his Savior that very night.
That’s how God is; His ways aren’t ours. He has plans and purposes, and even past history can’t predict what He is going to choose to do in and through and with us. It’s this part of the character of God that I love so much. No matter how insane our past life has been, and regardless of how predictable our future is based on our past, for those who come to believe–watch out! God’s going to send you on a grand, epic adventure far beyond your genetics, your history, or even your good intentions.
What is impossible for people is possible with God.” Luke 18:27 NLT
When I was in elementary school my family and I visited the University of Virginia. I thought the campus looked pretty and I told the tour guide that I thought this might be a school I’d like to attend. “Little lady, no can do. This college is just for men.” Once I believed with absolute certainty the Spirit of God impressed upon me that I was to preach His message of hope to hurting people–to the ends of the earth. “Impossible. You’re a woman; you’re Baptist. No way did God give you that message,” I was told by someone I deeply respected. But here’s the thing, and there’s no escaping it. God’s purposes prevail. And that’s that. I figured if I was going to even have a shot at storming “The Grounds” at “The University” I’d better work hard in school, and I did (and was accepted in 1974 with other women–we were a distinct minority, but we were present). I recognized that I’d probably never deliver a message of hope from a pulpit on planet earth, but I decided that heaven might look different. So I got myself prepared for heavenly cathedrals. There were some things that I chose to do even in the face of impossible odds. Why did I do that? Honestly, I don’t know. Except to say this: it’s God who makes us both willing and able. Sometimes in the face of impossible odds and lost dreams, we have an opportunity to continue to persevere. Then we wait upon the Lord. We ask him to have His way with us. Sometimes our choices seem insane, but I have found that trusting in God and His purposes is ultimately the sanest place to plant. (By the way, I admit fully my very unspiritual satisfaction and delight when my daughter attended the University of Virginia in a class where more women than men were accepted and attended. It’s petty, I know. I’ll work on that when I get to step four!)