READ: 1 Chronicles 11:10-11 (or see the extended
passage of 1 Chronicles 11:10-12:15)
10-11 These are the chiefs of David's Mighty Men,
the ones who linked arms with him as he took up his kingship, with all Israel
joining in, helping him become king in just the way God had spoken regarding
Israel. The list of David's Mighty Men:
Jashobeam son of Hacmoni was chief of
the Thirty. Singlehandedly he killed
three hundred men, killed them all in one skirmish.
THINK: David's Mighty Men were willing to risk their
lives by crossing the Philistine military camp in order to bring David water
from the Bethlehem well. What incredible
friendship!
Discuss this passage with a friend or
spiritual mentor. What do you think
about the idea of linking arms with others?
Is it awkward? Is it worth the
effort?
PRAY: Tell God about any worries or insecurities
you have about linking up with others.
Pray for the discernment to choose a few mature, like-minded people to
link arms with you and the boldness to ask them for help.
LIVE: Approach these individuals and ask them to
link arms with you.
Merciful Heavens,
Dear Readers. If I've had one discussion
about linking arms with people over the course of the past 18 months, I've had
dozens. It seems that God has me right
smack-dab in the middle of having to link arms with people when all I really
want is to not have to. Funny thing
is: I never really considered myself to
be a person who had a hard time asking for help. I guess I just never really ran across
anything I thought of as insurmountable.
And if I did, I guess I just deemed it outside of God's will, so I didn't
try.
So, let's see. What could possibly worry someone about
having to link up with others? What
worried me? Well….what if what I think
is important isn't? What if I need help
and nobody is there? I was asking God to
deliver me from this situation - that would've been help that I couldn't do for
myself - and he wouldn't do that. So why
should I believe that he's going to put it on the hearts of others to help me
in my hour of need? Why would he do that
when he could've just delivered me and wouldn't?
The conclusion I've
come to - the only one I've been able to draw that seems to make any sense for
where I am in my life right now - is that I needed to see how the body of
Christ can work when they are led by the Lord.
In all my desire not to have to link up with people, I've had no other
choice. And what I have witnessed, and
what my children and parents and husband have witnessed, is God working through
people - is Jesus with skin on, working to support one of his own. When I felt like God had dropped me on my
head, and had no reason to believe that others wouldn't do the same, what He
has shown me is that we do all need each other.
There are some gifts that I have that the body needs. That's why God gave them to me. Likewise, there are gifts that people around
me need to share, and they needed to be shared with me (for now), and I needed
to see them being shared. And my kids
and my husband and my parents and countless other people around me who I’m sure
I will never realize needed to see this, have needed to see these gifts being
shared. I have no idea why God chose my
family for this time or this time for my family, but I believe that someone
needs to see our church family being the church family RIGHT NOW for this
season. And maybe, just maybe, someone
in our own congregation needed a chance to take a step up and BE the church, to
be the participant in the body of Christ that He called them to be. I don't know.
I am sure that there are wonderful and glorious things happening through
our situation that I will not get to know this side of Heaven, but they are
happening for sure.
I do have to say
that there is one thing I am grateful for, that I knew even before I got the
point where I am now that I would be grateful for. Under PRAY, it says to ask God for
discernment to choose a few mature, like-minded people to link arms with. I knew, when all this first started that, if
things didn't go my way, I wouldn't even have the luxury of turning my back on
God because of the people I had surrounded myself with. My closest friends through this whole ordeal
have let me whine and cry and mope, but they have not let me live in a pit of
despair. These friends have known me
long enough to see things in me that I have doubted or lost sight of or
questioned if those things were ever there, and they have repeated back to me
things I've said in the past that I'd forgotten I believed when I was at my
lowest. They have helped me to stand
back up and brush myself off. But, they
have also challenged me through my doubt.
They have made me ask myself if I ever really believed those things I
said. They have not shied away from
asking me hard questions and telling me hard truths even when they've tried to
make me laugh and told me to take it easy on myself. They have been gracious and merciful, but
they've worn their steel-toed boots in the process, because sometimes I just
need a good, swift kick in the pants.
They have laughed with me (and sometimes at me). They have cried with me and they have cried
for me. They have prayed with me and
they have prayed for me. They have
rejoiced with me and mourned with me, and they have all comforted me with the
comfort they themselves have received (at one time or another) from Christ
Jesus himself. In short, they have been
to me - and my whole family - the very representation of the God and Christ
that I thought had deemed me unworthy of helping by not delivering me in the
first place.
Dear Friends, if you
find yourself floundering tonight, wondering where God is, why He seems to have
left you out in the world, all alone, with no intention of saving you, might I
suggest you look around you. Is there
someone in your life who just won't go away?
Is there someone in your life who insists on being nice to you and you
find yourself wondering why, or what it is this person could possibly want from
you, because you know you have nothing to offer? Maybe that is your lifeline and you don't
recognize it.
Or maybe you find
that there is someone in your life that you're drawn to and don't know
why. Have you made an effort to talk to
that person? Might I suggest that by
refusing to talk to that person, you may be missing a divine appointment. It takes a little bit of effort. You might even be really uncomfortable at
first. Please, please, please…make the
effort. You never know if your next best
friend is just a conversation away. You
never know if someday that person will be your lifeline when you need a
friend. Without a doubt, God has put you
right where you are for some reason.
Without a doubt, he has put in your way the people who are in your life
right now. Aren't you the least bit
curious to find out why?
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