He's Got This

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. ⁹ “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. ¹⁰ “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; ¹¹ So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.  Isaiah 55:8–11 (NASB95)

Whispers of vision. Thoughts of leadership. Decisions to make. Ideas that are larger than life. Plans that need implementation. Each of these mental exercises take turns haunting my “down times.” Having attended a retreat for pastors and wives this week, and being on the front end of a new position in a new church, my heart and mind are chock full of vision for the future. 

We were asked this week, “If money were not an issue and you had no opposition, what would you do? Where would you lead your church?” Wow. I think Pandora’s box just opened in my mind, and I am dangerously close to getting lost in my own little world of what could be. This sort of “visioneering” (ala Andy Stanley), can be a good thing, of course, but NOT if in having vision, I take the all-too-natural track of thinking it is up to me to make it happen.

Just then, my thoughts shift….

What of the drug problem in my community? Can those whose minds are lost in drink and drugs even receive the Gospel in truth? Or will they only return to their squalor and bring more shame to the name of Christ? Can He break through these lifestyles of sin? Are we to become a center for overcoming addictions, then?  And though the fields are white for the harvest, how many will ask about our position on homosexuality as a prerequisite to even listening to our message? How many will reject us for this single moral stand which we nonetheless cannot abandon. And what about the fact that the huge poor population in my community thinks my church is for the rich or, at best, a place to get a hand out? And what about those many Christians who I can’t seem to convince to come to church? What about the traditionalists in my own congregation who live to protect that which is not sacred at the expense of that which is? What about the legalists who want to haggle over questions of the Law?  What about those in my church who treat unbelievers as if they were the enemy rather than lost sheep or longed-for prodigals. What about my own limitations… and the fact that no matter what I do, I will often be misunderstood, misquoted and even lied about? What about the fact that many are still waiting to see if I am “worthy” of being followed? What about the barriers to our growth, the removal of which, might feel like cutting off an arm or a leg…?

Eventually, I always come to this intersection of vision and reality where I find myself standing still.  What can I do about all of these seemingly insurmountable barriers to the vision of God?  I can become an instrument instead of an instigator.  I can trust the promise of Isaiah 55 (above). I can turn my ineptitude into a resolve to surrender to God’s higher, more powerful ways.  Meanwhile, I can pray and I can preach. 

Really?  That’s it?  Just pray and preach… and leave the rest to God?  Pretty much.  I don’t see anything in Isaiah 55 or in the book of Acts or anywhere else that says the vision is my responsibility to achieve. What exactly is my job anyway? And what am I to do with all of this Godly vision for expanding the Kingdom of God?

What did the first pastors do?  They prayed and they preached. As they were faithful to those two things, God changed the world through them (see Acts 2 and 6).  More and more I am understanding that these two things (prayer and preaching), together, ARE my calling.  As I pray and as I preach, I can trust that God’s Word will not return void, and that in His time, as I am faithful to ACTUALLY pray and preach HIS WORD, the fruit will come.  YES THE FRUIT WILL COME.  The Lord is faithful, and HE will do it.  Amen.