In his workshop

He said, ‘I am the Lord who made the earth. I gave a shape to it and I put it in its place. The Lord is my name. I say this to you: “Call out to me and I will answer you. I will tell you about great things. They are secret things that you do not yet know.”' (Jeremiah 33:2-3 EASY)

Great things - secret things - that you do not know YET. Did you catch that? When we call out to God, he is never too busy to reveal the hidden to those who seek him with all their hearts. Most of the time, the hidden things remain hidden because we don't ask for him to reveal them. We know bits and pieces, things we have ferreted out on our own, but we don't see what he does in order for all those bits and pieces to come together. Those things may take a while for us to understand, but when we call out, he begins to reveal to us what otherwise may have remained hidden.

God gives 'shape' to our lives - making a 'place' for everything we experience. The good and the bad can be used by God to 'shape' our lives. We might just think the good is all that he would use, but he uses the damaged parts of our lives to teach us some of the biggest lessons and deepest truths. Perhaps the greatest thing we have learned is never to discount what he can do with what we bring to him. We bring bits and pieces of broken lives, and he somehow picks up those pieces and 'shapes' something beautiful from them. We aren't going to be the same when his 'shaping' process begins.

The LORD is my name would be the correct way for us to display this verse. We must never forget who is at work in us and through us. It is God Almighty, YAHWEH, the God of the Covenant - the one who promises and keeps his promises. The I AM THAT I AM is present - always accessible to us - never abandoning us to be 'shaped' by happenstance. The one who made all things is the one who continues that 'making' process by 'shaping' our lives day after day, experience after experience. We might not realize he is at work, but he is doing 'great things' with the plan of even greater things being revealed in and through us.

The "I AM" is at work. Whenever we think brokenness defines our lives, it is never too late for him to begin the work of revealing 'great things' within us. Our brokenness is not what defines us - it might have been the outcome of the things we allowed, but it never defines who we are in Christ Jesus. Those pieces, brought tenderly into his 'workshop', are the very pieces that will fit together to display his grace and goodness to others with just as many bits and pieces of broken lives, allowing them to see there is much more he plans than we can see right now. Don't give up on his work - he isn't finished 'shaping' and 'putting into place' what only he can do. Just sayin!