“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,
that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him,
because He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:6–7, NASB95)
Five years ago our church went through the hard struggle of
seeking to reduce its staff in response a felt need to restructure how things
were done within the church as responsible stewards of the resources with which
they were entrusted. This was a very difficult season in a lot of ways. There
were even some who took offense and there were others who were more simply
hurting. The hurt was not intentional, but it happened nonetheless. As part of this
restructuring Robin and I spent considerable time questioning God about His
future for us. I remember a meeting in May of that year when the question was
posed before the congregation, “What about Joe?” This was a hard question to hear
being asked because I was that Joe. I went home very troubled that day, and I
cried out to God that same question. Over the course of the next two weeks a
number of things unfolded such that Robin and I were brought to a point where
we had the firm leading that God indeed did have something else in store for
us. I must admit that I never anticipated the walk that would follow, one that
still continues today.
It is a difficult thing to go through change, especially
change that you did not want or anticipate. But it is something that happens to
all of us. It even happens in churches as they continue to seek God’s leading
for how they should walk properly handling what He has laid before them. There
is no church that will get everything right all of the time, and there are
congregations that will have to struggle as a result. The real question then is
how both the leadership and the rest walk through it. Here in our passage for
today we are told, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,
that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him,
because He cares for you.”
On June 3rd of that year I was delivered the
morning message in which I also let the congregation know what was going on
with us. In that message, I told them that we believed God indeed had plans for
us that we did not know, but until such time that He showed us those plans that
this church was our home. In the years that have followed there indeed have
been many struggles for us, but our church home has continued to embrace us and
show us the love of our incredible God. Their continued prayer has been a huge
encouragement as we look to God and wait on Him knowing that He indeed does
care for us.
Just before beginning to write this post I watched a video
that brought tears to my eyes. It was of an event that I loved to participate in while serving as a pastor,
and realize how much I miss times like this. Over five years of searching to
re-enter vocational ministry we’ve had several times when we thought it was
going to happen, yet it didn’t. In some of these I know the reasoning while in
others I don’t. During this I’ve had some very dark moments, but I’ve also had
those ones where God has shown Himself to me and my family in one way or
another not only to be faithful to hold us but also to continue to care for and
direct us.
It has been a real struggle not to strive to push God’s hand
away and set my own course. I can see so many things that “I” would have done
differently or that “I” think were inappropriate or wrong. I know that I have
failed many times in trusting Him, and He has been so loving in resetting my
heart and mind. One of these resets was last week as I was listening to the
radio in the car. Romans 4:18 was quoted speaking of Abraham, where we read,
“In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations
according to that which had been spoken, “So
shall your descendants be.”
(Romans 4:18, NASB95) God had promised Abraham that all of the nations would be
blessed through his seed, yet year after year Abraham and his wife Sarah were
unable to conceive and bear a child so that this very promise could be
fulfilled. We read that both of them had begun to question if they heard right,
and they even sought to take matters into their own hands. Sarah gave her
husband maid servant through whom to bear a child and thus fulfill the promise.
Of course, a child was born. But God made it clear to them that his child with
Hagar was not that child of whom God spoke. So, they continued to wait. And
even when two angels came to Abraham as men and refreshed the promise we read,
that Sarah laughed. But despite their doubts in in the face of overwhelming
odds, God fulfilled His promise and Isaac was born to a man who was about a
hundred years old and whose wife’s womb was dead (Romans 4:19).
The words “hope against hope” rang loud in my head and my
heart. God had made a promise to Abraham, and long after any one would have
ever expected it to be fulfilled and when every human means of measuring it as
possible was exhausted, God fulfilled His promise. When normal circumstances
would say that all hope is lost, we read that Abraham continued to hope. He did
not hope perfectly, but he hoped, and God was faithful.
In our passage today we read that we are to humble ourselves
under the mighty hand of God so that He may exalt us at the proper time. Things
may not go our way in our lives or in our churches. The reality is that God is
not about us having it our way, but us submitting to His way and then watching
Him work. We don’t know how or when our answers or our help will come. We don’t
know what form they will come in. We don’t know what twists or trials will come
along the way. As hard as we might try to maneuver the path the reality is that
God is the one who is sovereign over everything and He does indeed have a plan
for each of us. He has prepared works for us, and He has declared that we are
to walk in them. For the time being those works may not be the works that we
desire the most or that we think we are called to, but they are the ones that
God has before us and He expects us to be faithful in them as we wait on what
He might have next.
God knows our hopes and our struggles. He loves us beyond
anything that we could ever ask or imagine. He has eternal glory in store for
every single one of us who are saved by the blood of His Son through faith.
And, it is by faith that He calls us to walk even now trusting Him for the
future. The reality is that I may not return to ministry as I desire, but that
does not change the desire of my heart. I am to trust God to bring the two into
line and direct my path, whether it is as I hope or as He surprises me by
opening up something else. We are to look to Him for
the strength for today, the health to do the tasks before us, and the provision
to meet the needs that press.
Every single one of us has trials in our lives. Some seasons
have more than others. We all are likely to be forced to make changes that we
otherwise might not have wanted. This is all part of living in a fallen world.
But we are always to be mindful of this one incredible truth—Jesus has overcome
the world!!
“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may
have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have
overcome the world.” (John 16:33, NASB95)
Our God cares for us more than we can ever know and He is powerful
beyond all measure. “Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of
them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your
head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.”
(Matthew 10:29–31, NASB95)
“Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore
you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one
another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond
of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one
hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of
all who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:1–6, NASB95)
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