A better plan

Matt's Assignment Night in May 2007.

There are two major conflicts inside the story in my head these days; just like any good sitcom, right? One is the situation with my job. (What happened? Oh, the injustice! Certainly God has my back in this as always.) Two is Matt's "upcoming" assignment. It's been upcoming for about three months already, but as far as we're concerned it might as well have been "upcoming" for three years already. (And the story in my head wonders will there be enough fighters? What if he gets a UAV? When in the world will we hear anything?)

The first story God and I have mostly tackled into understanding, except for every so often when Satan tries to plant a negative thought about it in me. We investigate those as they come. There has been a lot of healing in this place, although the scab hasn't gone away yet.

The second story is something I think about every day. Matt tries not to think about it at all. When he got FAIPed it was the last thing we were wanting. (I had apparently not even really considered it and therefore sobbed through most his initial assignment process. I think this time I'll be able to go with the flow at least a little better.)

Anyway, as we wait on the assignment and the start of a jobless school year approaches, I am deeply comforted by my reading today. I have been reading Beth Moore's David: 90 Days with a Heart Like His.

Today's devotional begins with reading 1 Samuel: 8: 1-22. The Scripture is about the end of Samuel's leadership, when the Israelites are demanding he appoint a king as his successor. The problem is, the Israelites have it all wrong. They want a king because all the other countries have kings. They want a king so they can be cool, get what they want, be up with the times. Basically, because they think it will be all good news for them.

Samuel is devastated. He loved and sacrificed his whole life for these people who are turning on him. He goes to God for advice: (Excerpts from Beth's writing, not Scripture.)

"Then, in a move that seemed to justify and reward their misplaced values and short-sightedness, the Lord told him to grant their request because they had not rejected Samuel as judge; they had rejected God as king. As always, Samuel obeyed."

God is giving them their king, but not without first having Samuel tell them all the turmoil this will cost them:

"Still, he told the people of the taxes they would pay, the freedoms they would lose, and ultimately how their sons and daughters would be reduced to virtual slavery by the fulfillment of their request. No matter how Samuel reasoned, however, the people wanted a king. They wanted a king for all the wrong reasons. Ultimately, they wanted a king because the other nations had them.

We can see so many truths in the situation. One lesson speaks of patience. God had already planned a king for the people. Their lack of patience was to cost them dearly. If they had waited for the Lord's choice instead of demanding their way, how different might the story have been?

Another lesson from the story deals with rejection. None of us enjoys rejection, but when we are serving Christ, any rejection falls to His broad shoulders rather than our narrow ones. The next time you feel rejection's sting, remember God's words to Samuel: 'It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me' (v. 7).

Samuel warned the Israelites about what they were getting into. Often when God does not readily give us what we want, it is because He knows wat our desire would cost us. Faith sometimes means forgoing our desires because we trust Christ to have a better plan for our lives."

Patience and rejection, rejection and patience. Those are -more precisely- the storylines I described above. I'm not exactly sure what's what in this. We needed this lesson just as much at the beginning of these situations as we need it now at the end. We demanded of God then just as we have now. And patience and rejection have flowed through these stories side by side like the Tigris and Euphrates.

All I know is today I want to choose patience so that God's purposes may be fulfilled instead of my own. How much more beautiful that picture will be! I'm so grateful he knows better than I do.

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5: 3-5