FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS! For such a time as WHAT, you ask? For such a time as RIGHT NOW in your
life. Today … this summer day in 2015. While our world seems to be spinning out of
control and spiraling ever downward … the time is NOW! Alright – I will get to the punch line! We all
honestly know and have to admit that it is never the perfect time for ANYthing!
Somehow, we are never ready or fully prepared for what is to come. But it is going to come anyway, be it
amazingly wonderful and joyous, or devastatingly destructive and
sorrowful. Somehow, we don’t quite know
what to do with what we feel is out of our control. We are not GOD, after all! But I fear that in so many of our
circumstances, we do not let God be GOD!
From personal experience, we think we have to help make it happen in
just the right way … or we have to help fix it … or we have to solve it. Is there any other way? Well, yes, there is!
We just need
to let God be GOD! But far too often we
feel overwhelmed, overpowered, over-anxious, over-stressed, over-angry, even
out of control … and we cannot get over anything! NOW is the time to ask ourselves some reality
questions. What are we still hanging on
to? What are we letting control us? And what is clutching at our hearts with a
death-grip? Why can’t we just let
go? Why do we take the control stick
away from God and jump in and try to maneuver things the way we think
best? You know, our very best thinking
just doesn’t get us where we want to be!
Does it have to be this difficult?
Actually, these are the perfect times to take our hands off the steering
wheel and let God be GOD!
Or perhaps you have this false notion that everything is exactly
perfect at this time and place in your life.
From family to friends to finances.
From happiness to health to home.
From relationships to responsibilities to the routine. From work to well-being to winning at
life. But you see, we live in a fallen
world. And the reality of life is – life
happens! And it happens when we least
expect it. An unwelcome diagnosis at the
doctor’s office. A job that ends. An estranged relationship. Loneliness that eats away at the heart. An empty bank account. Disappointments that crush the soul. Words that cut. Pain that does not go away. Well, I’d best quit with this reality check
before I have you in tears.
So how do we make this “letting God be GOD” thing work? Well, all I know is what I read in God’s Word
… and all I know in addition to that is what I experience in my own life! So here goes . . .
The Bible talks about “for such a time as this” in the book of
Esther. When the lives of all the Jewish
people in the kingdom were at risk to perish, Esther’s uncle Mordecai sent a
message to her in the palace. What he
basically said was that she should not flatter herself assuming that she would
escape where she had been placed as the Queen, any more than all the other
Jews. How I love the rest of his loving,
but urgent message to his niece: “For if
you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance shall arise for the Jews
from elsewhere, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows but that you have come to the
kingdom for such a time as this and for this very occasion?” (chapter 4:14) What place does God have you in right now
where you can effect great changes if you will just let Him be WHO HE IS? I urge you to pray and ask God to open your
eyes to what you need to let go of so that He can do His work in the life
circumstances you would like victory in!
At the beginning of this year, one word rang out clearly above
all others in my heart. It was
“relationships.” I wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t that my life was filled with lots
of broken relationships or that I lacked relationships. Quite the contrary. But in our human imperfection things can crop
up that make us want to run to Jesus to make it good again … great, in
fact! At any rate, I just sensed that I
was desiring more closeness and unity in all of my relationships. God helped me recognize that I could not
change anything in anyone else. And He
reminded me that the best thing I could do was to come before Him in all
honesty and ask Him to let me see me as He sees me – so He could fix in me what
would help make things like I longed for them to be. Well, long story short, God must have done
some amazing work in me. I don’t know
what He did in anyone else, but as the weeks and months progressed throughout
this year, I would experience the most loving, affirming experiences within the
relationships that I cherish and hold closest to my heart. It was so noticeable, that I would actually
stop and just look up and say, “Wow, God … that is amazing! Only YOU could have done this!” And you know what? I am so glad that I got out of the way, and
just let God be GOD in my relationships!
Are ALL of them perfectly wonderful?
No, there’s a few God is still working on me about. But I am trying to stay out of the way, I am
asking Him to keep changing me, and I am trusting that in His time, there will
again be the connectedness I desire. You
know what? It really is FUN inviting and
allowing God to be GOD! Amazing things
happen way beyond what we could ever only dream of doing!
REMEMBER . . .
“I tell you,
now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”
~ 2
Corinthians 6:2b
Serving Christ Joyfully . . .
Pastor Doug and Debbie
