Following God When It Doesn’t Make Sense
We were only months away from being completely debt free! The success was within our grasp. Three years of strict discipline was about to pay off.
I proceeded to make plans on how we would begin to save up for a house. We would only have another year or so and we’d have enough for a small down payment.
So much hard work had been put in place and I felt like I knew exactly how things were going to unfold.
But then God began to nudge our hearts; did He really want us to settle in Washington State? Or was he calling us to something much more faith stretching?
We didn’t know what God was doing but our hearts began to stir and the unknown that He had in store for our lives began to beckon us.
As we dive into scripture we will see that the prophet Samuel also had God redirect him.
“The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” 2 But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”
1 Samuel 16:1-2 NIV
What was Samuel to do? Samuel had anointed Saul as King about 27 years earlier but in chapter 15 of 1 Samuel we see that Saul disobeyed God, and because of this, God had rejected Saul as the King of Israel.
Now Samuel had a choice. Did he continue to stay stuck in the disappointment of King Saul’s choices, or did he obey God even at the cost of his life?
Are you in a season where things are not turning out as you had planned and you are now stuck?
Frustrated at the outcome and unsure you really want to try again?
Perhaps you have failed at something and now you are trying to put the pieces back together. Or maybe a situation you thought was going to turn out one way took a completely different turn that you did not expect.
How we handle these situations can truly define us.
We can get stuck. So much so that we become unable to move past our own expectations. But the Lord of the Universe is saying “It may look different than you expect, but follow Me.”
Will you follow Him?
Samuel chose to trust the Living God and went with fear and trembling to the house of Jesse.
“When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:6-7 NIV
Samuel was certain he knew who God had chosen to anoint as King of Israel! Yet God said no.
How often do we think we know how things should play out because it makes “sense” and yet God says an emphatic NO?
God sees the entire puzzle and knows if this or that specific piece is taken out or put in the wrong place it will ruin His master piece.
Therefore, instead of going off of his own understanding Samuel chose to wait for the Lord to show him who He wanted to anoint as the next King of Israel.
While my husband and I were feeling this deep desire to have our faith stretched, we headed to Hawaii for a family vacation.
While we were there the Lord spoke to our hearts and said we were to move to Hawaii for an extended amount of time.
Hawaii? Really Lord? That’s wonderful!
But what are we going to do in Hawaii?
This is where prayer and fasting came into play. When God tells you that you are moving to Hawaii you better make sure it’s Him because that is not a cheap place to live. And remember we were just getting out of debt.
As we fasted and prayed we invited a handful of others into this process.
We did not tell them what we were praying about just that we felt the Lord was speaking and we wanted confirmation.
After a month of prayer and fasting each of our prayer partners got the words “missions” and “moving.” My father-in-law got a picture of us on an island.
WOW! Just WOW! Now missions in Hawaii? Really Lord? What does that look like?
Soon God showed us a Discipleship Training School for Families at Youth With A Mission in Kailua-Kona.
It now began to make complete sense! God wanted to train us up to serve Him all over the world, not just in Washington State.
But wait, we still did not have the finances and this school was not going to be cheap. And we had two small children to think about. How were we ever going to be able to afford this school?
Are you in a season in your own life that God is asking you to do something that doesn’t make sense? Or it seems impossible?
Write down an area in your life you have felt the Lord stirring you but you don’t know how it would work out so you’ve put it on the shelf thinking it won’t ever come to fruition.
“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7 NIV
Are you looking at what God has put in your heart with your human eyes?
Or are you choosing to look at the situation with God’s eyes?
Today take a moment and ask God to show you how He sees the dreams in your heart.
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