Juxtaposed

Happy New Year!!

I  hope all your festivities over the past few weeks have left you enriched, revived, and renewed.  Ready to begin a new year!  (Well, maybe that's a bit overly enthusiastic.)

At any rate, I do pray this will be a marvelous year of blessing for you and your family!

I experienced an odd "century jump" this morning and it's only 6:00 AM.

Because I delivered the sermon on Sunday, my devotional Bible is still in my office.  So, I had to scramble around on my computer for reading material after my coffee cup was well in hand.

I first clicked a software program called LOGOS that Frank recently put on my computer.  Immediately, a message popped up - "Update ready to install.  Click here to begin."

Well, I want to be as updated as the next guy, so I clicked here.

The little wheel at the top of my page began whirling!  This always makes me feel like I'm working hard even though I'm actually just sitting, staring at a screen.  Some days, it's down right exhilarating!

At 5:00 in the morning, it's pretty quiet around here.  So, I became impatient with the updating process rather quickly. 

Just as I reached to click out of installation mode, another little message popped up - "Installation will be complete in 28 seconds.  20 seconds.  15 seconds."

"Oh, this is going more quickly than I thought.  Guess I can wait it out after all."

"Installation complete.  Please click here to install phase two.  Installation Recommended."

"No one said there would be two phases to this!  Oh good grief!  But I'm already in this far; I probably should see it through."

Click.  Whirling wheel reappears.  Count down clock provides distraction just long enough to keep my impatient fingers off the cancel button. 

"Installation complete!"  Whew!

I began to ponder the thought that perhaps God should employ the "Pop up Message Method" of communication when it comes to matters of His will. 

You sit down to pray and a message appears over your head,  "Extra Grace ready for installation.  Click here to begin.  Installation HIGHLY Recommended."

Well, of course we would all click the installation button immediately.  We look over our heads and spot the little whirling wheel spinning in mid-air.

"Oh, good!  It's working!!"  Such a sense of satisfaction!

And imagine how patient we could be if, in the middle of installing Grace into our lives, an update message also appeared.  "Grace will be completely installed in 28 days.  25 days.  15 days........."

"Well, that feels like a rather long time!  But I'm already committed to this process; guess I'll stick with it."

Unfortunately, God does NOT feel it necessary to utilize pop up messages. 

He simply invites us to grow/change/update our thinking.  If we agree to said maturing process, He starts working.  But we don't know that He's working. 

All we can see is the difficulty and inconvenience.

No whirling wheel to say, "Have patience.  Just wait.  Trust Me.  You'll be glad you did!"

While pondering these thoughts, I clicked over to read Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest.  And one of my favorite writers from the turn of the century put it this way:  ".....God won't reveal what He's doing.  He reveals who He is!"

Such an unusual juxtaposition of thought the Lord used during my devotional time this morning.  The computer and Chambers.  One hundred years of technology separating the delivery methods.  But a singular truth.

God invites us to become more like Him.  We choose to follow (install).  He begins the process.  Eventually, His character becomes ours.  But the waiting period in between choosing and completion can be very frustrating!

So, if you're like me and could really use a message encouraging you to not "click out of the process" before it's complete - here you go!

"Installation of Godly Character will be complete in...............  Don't give up!  Keep watching for the sign that the work is complete.  Trust Him.  You'll be so glad you did!"