Yep, you've got chaos!

Every morning you'll hear me at it again.
   Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on your altar
      and watch for fire to descend. 

(Psalm 5:2-3)

As I was waking up this morning, my radio was playing a song whose lyrics contained the words, "It feels like you are creating chaos in me".  The idea was that out of chaos, God brings good stuff.  The fact of the matter is that we all frequently feel this same way - like all that God is up to in us is chaos.  David was no exception.  He frequently conversed with God about the "stuff" that just seemed to surround him with all kinds of challenge, busy-work, and unknown outcomes.  This passage from the Psalms captures it best...Every morning you'll hear me at it again!

I think we might think God gets tired hearing about our lives.  After all, how many times does he need to hear that we are frustrated with our pain, or disappointed with the loss of our youthfulness?  How many times does he need to listen to the "stories" of our waywardness?  How often has he heard the same story of repentance, only to hear us at it again in a short matter of time?  The "chaos" just seems to keep coming - and we just seem to keep bringing it before God.  Why?  Because we can!

David was pretty revealing when he penned these words.  His very next statement really captures a beautiful picture for us - every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on your altar and watch for fire to descend.  First, he comes EVERY morning to God.  There is no fear in his heart that God will get tired of hearing from him!  Then, he lays it all out before God...holding nothing back.  That is how a sacrifice was prepared in Old Testament times - it was laid out for all the pieces to be seen.  Sometimes, we'd like to hold a little back, but it is in laying it all out that it is available for God to affect.

If that doesn't paint the picture, we need to see that it was in the laying of the pieces on the altar that David hoped for the changes he desired to occur.  Why is this important?  Simply because the altar is the ONLY place we can actually be altered!  It is the laying out of our lives that God is able to affect change - to bring order out of what looks like nothing more than chaos!

David says he does this and then waits watchfully for God's fire to descend.  This is the hardest part of bringing it to God - waiting watchfully for his move! Nothing is more of a struggle for us than waiting.  In the waiting, we want nothing more than to retrieve a few pieces off the altar and tuck them carefully away for "another time".  The sacrifice is only consumed if it is whole!

So, if life seems a little like CHAOS right now...don't lose hope!  It probably is!  In that CHAOS God is at work bringing something beautiful out of it.  CHAOS is really Christ Having Authority Over Sin in our lives.  CHAOS is really Christ Honoring Abandoned Obedient Service.  CHAOS is Christ Healing And Opening Spirits.  CHAOS is simply God at work!  Embrace it!  It has a purpose far greater than you'd ever imagine!