Yesterday, I talked about the weather forecast. Today, I want to tell you how I reacted to that forecast. I went around the house and opened windows. I put the storm windows up and made sure screens were in place at every window that I could. We have triple-track storms on all but 7 windows in our house. Of those 7, I have screens for 6 of them. For those 6 windows, I have to take down the glass storm windows and put up the screens. It is a task that has come to mean to me that warm weather has arrived in Wisconsin.
2 of those old-fashioned kind of windows are on the second floor. The only way to get to them is to get up on the roof of my back porch. That roof has fairly new black asphalt shingles on it. I tried to go up yesterday afternoon, but the shingles were simply too hot for me to get on. Call me a wimp, but I decided to wait until this morning to exchange those windows with screens. This morning, the roof was not hot at all and it was an easy task to swap them out. It probably only took me 15 minutes to completely do the task, including setting up the ladder, getting the screens, actually swapping, and putting everything away. Quick task, easily done at the right time, difficult to do at the wrong time.
Have you ever felt like you were swimming up stream in a task you believe God has put before you? I'm not talking about the difficult road of discipleship, that is certainly going to exist. I am talking about feeling like every opportunity you discern crashes and burns in a horrible mess. Yet, you know that the task is of God. What is happening? I think what you are feeling is the frustration of doing it on your own. Oftentimes, when God places a task before us, we accept it and say, "Alright, Lord, I'll get back to you as soon as I'm done." Folks, this is not right.
God does not call us to go off and do His work in our power. He calls us to do His work in His power. If you are bumping into roadblock after roadblock, then you may need to re-examine who you are trusting in to get it done. Instead of joining God in His work, are you asking Him to join you in your task? It takes a fundamental change in your will to seek God first. One of the easiest ways to know it is of God is to ask yourself who will get the glory when the job is done. Are you looking to get pats on the back from your friends for your work? Then you are working for your own glory. Or, are you longing to hear people say, "Look what God did!"
There are many things on the horizon that we are beginning to wonder about. We need to first, and foremost, be on our knees seeking God's guidance as to which task He would have us on, which task would bring Him the most glory. That is the call of our Lord. If we wait on Him, we will find the task easier, like getting on a roof in the morning instead of the afternoon.
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.
--Isaiah 40:28-31 (NASB)
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