Trusting God With 'This'

  I know a family who has been struggling with the issue of moving.  Should they move, or should they not?  There are days when both the husband and wife may feel one way, and the next they have changed their minds.  

PROS AND CONS

They have made lists of pros and cons and honestly the lists are fairly balanced.  What one place doesn’t provide in one area, it supplies in another area the first does not.  When the grown children are asked for their opinions, they share their thoughts, and feelings are swayed yet again.  

The struggle became a source of confusion, frustration and on some days even depression!  Yet God is not a God of confusion, he is a God of peace.  Satan is frustrating the matter and causing strife where strife need not be.

NEEDING SOME CLUES!

In exasperation the wife shared she finally prayed that if they were not to move, God would create such difficulties it wouldn’t seem worth the effort, and particularly that her husband would be the one who would see the situation clearly.   

Before this situation was settled, the wife felt an incredible sense of peace.  She no longer felt compelled to tears, with her share of frustration regarding the indecision!  She took God at his word in Scripture. She was believing that God had heard her prayer and that the decision, if she trusted her heart “ears” to God, would recognize His will in the decision she and her husband would eventually make.

GOD KNOWS BEST

I wonder if we sometimes doubt that God is listening when we pray.  Additionally, I wonder if we consider God’s will in matters that are important to us.  Are we so wrapped up in the decision making process, we forget that God knows best?   

We focus on the problem, make the lists of pros and cons like my friends, and then find our minds wavering back and forth so much we are unable to make the decision we are sure is ours to make.  This sounds just like my friends’ issues with their move.  

They found themselves asking other people for advice, wrestling with their own feelings and forgetting that ultimately it’s in the hands of God.  He has a plan that will work perfectly if they allow him.  

ARE YOU WILLING TO SURRENDER?

Ultimately God asked the question “Are you willing to sacrifice ‘this’ for me?  When the wife shared this specific question from God, with very little discussion, the decision was made.  God gave peace that the answer had come.  It was the first night she said, she’d slept the whole night through in ‘she couldn’t remember when’!  

It makes me think of Noah, who had never seen rain or Abraham when he left his homeland for a place he had never been.  God hadn't even told him the destination, but would tell him when he got there!  These men didn’t apply pros and cons for the decision.  God called them to it, and they trusted that call through obedience, giving them the peace and faith to move forward.

GOD’S PEACE IS DIFFERENT

God’s peace changes everything despite what’s going on around us.  When we know we are in His will, perspective (and productiveness) changes.

Abraham and Noah's stories proves God answers prayers.  It wasn’t only about the decision, They (my friends nor the Biblical examples) didn’t suddenly have every detail worked out and didn’t know how or when everything would unfold. But they had peace and trust in the One who held the answer.

Sometimes God’s answer to our prayer isn’t an immediate solution.  Sometimes it’s peace while we wait for the solution.

Photo Credit: Trusting In God