Me: Prodigal, Where are you going?
Prodigal: I don’t know.
Me: What do you mean you don’t know?
Prodigal: Well my friend owns this train and invited me to go for a journey. I just would not be able to determine where I was going.
Me: Isn’t that risky?
Prodigal: No because I know my friend.
Me: What a very true point, and that goes along with the story for today.
Catherine Marshall talks about how God works on us in the book Beyond Ourselves.
There is one central core of the entering in or commitment experience that is common to everyone who undergoes it. It is the act of putting
one-self-past, present, and future-into God’s hands to do with as He pleases.
A girl once asked me, “But isn’t that a terrible risk?”
Yes, it certainly would be, if we had a God who wanted to deprive us of joy rather than add joy to our lives, if He were not a God who cares supremely for us and our welfare. But what He wants for us is exactly what every thoughtful parent wants for his child-that pure, deep-flowing joy that springs out of maturity and fulfillment.
That God is like this, each of us must discover for ourselves. There is only one difficulty. The discovery comes second, the act of will first. The order of events can never be reversed: action on our part, that is, the decision to hand our life over to God and the promising of obedience; then, and only then, comes understanding and the unfolding knowledge of the character of God.
See this is really tough to learn for those of us who have problems with trusting. See like most of y’all, I have been hurt. I dealt with the hurt by not trusting others. It is natural for me to not trust others. I to this day like to slowly know someone and do not rush into trusting them.
Then God told me to be obedient and act on faith first and I was scared to death! I wanted to have understanding, I wanted all the facts to be shown to me. I wanted to be able to make a decision based on the facts so I could avoid being hurt. So you know what God did? He said Jennifer, you can trust me, I am not man.
He wanted me to have that trust and that faith. I had confused God with man. I though blind obedience to God would mean I would get hurt. Because blind obedience to man can get you hurt. Look at God’s word and look at what it says. It says over and over again that God loves us and His plans are for good!
So what does God do, he puts me in situation after situation where it looks on the surface that this will not turn out for good. The situation looks like I am being punished, it looks like it will destroy my whole future. What happens. God shows up after my act of obedience and everything is completely turned around. I fall on my face and see is Glory and see how God really does want the best for me!
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Jennifer Van Allen,
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
