I am writing this on the first day of fall! Fall is my favorite season of the year and I welcome all it brings - the cooler temperatures, colorful leaves, apples, and baking all things pumpkin. This fall is quite different than most, however, as we still are in a state of limbo as I write this - living in our house which we had thought was sold, my husband commuting daily to his job, not having a church home, and having no idea what the future holds for us. At least we are no longer living in an empty house. We decided that since we have no idea how long we will be here, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to function in a house with no furniture and an empty kitchen, that as much as we hated to do it that it made sense to bring our belongings back from storage. The main factor in this decision was having to pay monthly rent on a large storage unit. And while I learned that we can definitely get along with a lot less, I admit that I am really enjoying having a sofa, my own bed, and the pleasure of staging the house (since it is available for showings again) with fall decorations.
A lot of my thoughts the last two weeks have revolved around one main theme: "This doesn't make any sense." So many things about our situation don't make any sense to us. Why would our house sell the first week it was listed, and then fall through two days before closing? Why did it have to be at the last minute, after we had already moved everything out? Why would the Lord leave us living here, in a house that we need to sell and that requires my husband to drive two hours a day for work? When it means that we are a 45 minute to 1 hour drive from a good church, which keeps us from being able to get settled in a church and acquainted with people, involved, and serve in a ministry - when we could have been living a few short minutes away? Not knowing how long we are going to be here makes it difficult to know so many things, from where I should apply for jobs to how much of our stuff we should unpack. To our minds, the whole thing just doesn't make sense.
It was with these thoughts that I read Jeremiah 32. The Lord blessed me with so many good thoughts on the subject of when life doesn't make sense. In case you are not familiar with the story, at this time Jerusalem had been under siege for a year. God had told the prophet Jeremiah to buy a particular piece of land. But the field that God instructed him to purchase was in a territory that was occupied by the enemy. And furthermore, Jeremiah was in prison. I am sure Jeremiah must have wondered why in the world God was telling him to buy a piece of land when he was imprisoned, and a piece of land that looked like he would never benefit from anyway. It didn't make any sense. But as I studied this passage, the Lord brought several things to my attention:
1. Jeremiah had to go to a lot of trouble to trust God. Verses 9-14 list all the steps that he had to take to buy this land: he had to obtain the money and weigh it accurately on scales, sign the deed, seal it, plus have another open copy. He had to find witnesses. He had to deliver the sealed deed with the terms and conditions of the purchase to the proper person, in the presence of his cousin who owned the land, the witnesses he had gathered, and in the presence of those who sat in the court of the guard. He had to give the proper instructions. This is a lot of work to go through for something that probably didn't seem to make a lot of sense. It reminds me of all the work we went through packing and moving all our belongings to storage, only to have to move them back again and unpack the boxes we had just packed. We had to call to have our utilities changed and then call all of them again to reverse it. We had to stop the change of address at the Post Office, and cancel the movers.
It also reminds me that God never said that everything He does was going to make sense to us. He also never said that His will was going to be convenient. Trusting God when it doesn't make any sense isn't easy!
2. Jeremiah had faith that God would keep His promises. v. 15 - " For thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land." Jeremiah focused on trusting in the promises and goodness of God.
3. Jeremiah still praised God for being the powerful Creator of all. v. 17 - "Ah, Lord God! It is you who made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for You!" God Himself said in v. 27 - "Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?" This gives us assurance that nothing is impossible to God! Just because it doesn't make sense to us doesn't mean that God is limited.
4. Jeremiah recognized God as being great in wisdom, and that He is aware of our situation. This is one of the most comforting things for me to remember - God not only knows all about it, but this is part of His plan for us. v. 19 - "Great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings."
5. God had a good plan for His people, even when it didn't look like it. v. 41 - "I will rejoice in them doing good, and I will plant them in faithfulness, with all my heart and soul."
In all of this, I was reminded that God's will doesn't have to make sense. His ways and thoughts are far higher than ours. When we dwell on His power, His wisdom, and His goodness, it makes all the difference. Even when things don't make sense.
Thoughtfully,
Kathi
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