There is not where

If you have ever studied the life of Moses, you will find he was a man who was not afraid to speak his mind with God.  He was "real" with God - sharing both his frustrations and his exultation.  He never minced his words - he shot straight from the hip. I think God probably honored this kind of openness and transparency and blessed his leadership of Israel as a result.  There are times when we get so frustrated with the length of time it takes to get ourselves from step "A" to step "B" in this process we call "restoration" or "transformation", right?  I wonder what God would do if we were so totally humble and honest with him like Moses was?  Maybe we would come to see the delay is really a part of the process - it is a time when we purify our emotions, see our thought patterns change, and get rid of a whole lot of dead wood in our lives.  I kind of like the words below, because they express the frustration of Moses' heart.  The people have done nothing but complain about the delay in realizing their goal; the wilderness journey hasn't been a piece of cake; and the passage of time seems to make the waiting unbearable.  Sound like any set of circumstances you might be facing in your own life?

Moses said to God, “Look, you tell me, ‘Lead this people,’ but you don’t let me know whom you’re going to send with me. You tell me, ‘I know you well and you are special to me.’ If I am so special to you, let me in on your plans. That way, I will continue being special to you. Don’t forget, this is your people, your responsibility.”  God said, “My presence will go with you. I’ll see the journey to the end.”  Moses said, “If your presence doesn’t take the lead here, call this trip off right now. How else will it be known that you’re with me in this, with me and your people? Are you traveling with us or not? How else will we know that we’re special, I and your people, among all other people on this planet Earth?”  God said to Moses: “All right. Just as you say; this also I will do, for I know you well and you are special to me. I know you by name.”   (Exodus 33:14-17 MSG)

There are times when delays are really opportunities for us to make the transitions in life that God hopes we will make.  The amount of time it takes to make these transitions often depends directly on our response to the things God asks of us.  Moses was straight with God - it was a struggle to lead these people.  He felt like he was going it alone at times.  I think we aren't so different.  God calls us to go somewhere we have never been before in our spiritual lives and we complain we have never been there before.  Along the way to "there" we complain about the "where".  Where we have been, where we are now, and where we will ever end up - all concern us somehow. If God only took us down the "familiar" and "comfortable" path, do you think we'd ever leave Egypt behind?  Egypt represents the old way of living - in slavery, bondage, and despair.  The promised land represented the new way of living - freedom, delight, and hope.  Between "there" and "where", the journey is riddled with a whole lot of "why here" kind of moments!

One thing I have come to appreciate in the place between "there" and "where" is the importance of the moment.  Nothing in the moment seems like it is "perfect", but it is "purposeful".  We unfortunately want the perfect - so we complain about the process.  Some of us get stuck right in the middle for a long, long time - why?  It is simply because we are waiting for the "conditions" to change where we find ourselves right now.  We don't want to step out to see them change, we just want them to change in the midst of the journey right here and now.  Rarely do the conditions change in the midst of the journey - it is the journey which brings the change!  To get the most out of "transition" one has to actually step into the transition!

For most of us, the time factor is the biggest issue - we don't want it to take a whole lot of time for the transition to happen.  It is okay for God to ask for us to make a transition, but does it have to take forever?  Well, we can run ahead of God, but that doesn't usually work out to well for us, does it?  We think we can "arrive" on our own, doing things our way because the timing is too slow for us.  In the end, we end up with a whole lot of do-overs and a lot of time wasted!  So, rushing transition is not the recommendation here.  Yet, remaining in the place of transition for way too long just because we are not willing to move is also just as dangerous.  Both require our immediate attention and refocus.  God put the Israelites (and Moses) in the midst of the wilderness - to rush ahead or lag behind was just not right.  Moses expressed his frustration a time or two with God - both for the delay and the seemingly unwillingness of the people to "get it right" so they could move on!

Ever find yourself smack dab in the middle of being in the "moment", but having a pretty "crappy" attitude?  Well, I have!  To be truthful, I have been a complainer a time or two - complaining to God because the wait is too long, the journey disturbing my "comfort" just a little too much.  In those moments, I have wondered if God might just have abandoned me in the midst of my wilderness.  It is a hard thing to learn the purpose of the process.  A whole lot of things take place in the place between "there" and "where".  One of the most prominent is the change of heart.  I think this is what God is after in the process - the main objective he has for the wilderness is our heart!  Change only happens when the heart is affected.  Try changing if your heart isn't in it. You just don't have the same motivation, do you?  So, in the midst of the wilderness, the focus is our heart.  One of the best ways to know if the heart is changing is by evaluating how "real" we are with God in the midst of the trial.  As we drop the facades, he is able to communicate his plan.  

It may seem a little over-simplified to say the delay could be our willingness to be changed - to get real with God - but I don't think I am far off.  It has proven to be the case in my life time and time again.  If we learn to complain less about the process and open up to God in the reality of the moment, we might just find our journey made a little shorter.  Just sayin!

Edit away

^1-6 God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand.  I'm an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking.  You know when I leave and when I get back; I'm never out of your sight.  You know everything I'm going to say before I start the first sentence.  I look behind me and you're there, then up ahead and you're there, too—your reassuring presence, coming and going.  This is too much, too wonderful—I can't take it all in! 

(Psalm 139:1-6)

Without reservation, most of us would admit that there are "chapters" in our lives that we'd like no one to read.  We have some failures we'd rather no one really knew about, dreams that seem kind of silly when considered by others, and problems with memories that we just cannot seem to let loose of no matter how hard we try.  These "pages" of our lives are inscribed through the passage of time and the events of the days gone by.  David does what most people don't have the guts to do - he invites God to investigate his life - to read those "hidden chapters" like they were an open book.  He is not wanting God to get second-hand knowledge of his actions, attitudes, or attributes - he wants it to be first-hand.  

Learning to live life as an "open book" is scary.  As long as the less desirable "chapters" of our lives can be "edited out", we are okay with letting others "read us".  We'd like the "editing" rights to our lives - but that is not our job!  At best, we are second-rate writers - so how do we expect to be first-rate editors?  There is only one editor that will do the job right the first time - that is Jesus Christ.

Why is it that we resist the "editing" work of Christ in our lives?  It could be because we have some element of shame attached to those hidden chapters - having done things we are not at all proud of now.  It could be that we have secret aspirations that we have held for years, all the while too fearful to share them because we have listened to the lies of others that tell us that we will never amount to much.  Or still, it could be that we just don't think we've done well in the "writing" of our lives and we don't believe there is much contained in the "chapters" that anyone would benefit from "reading".

Here's the honest truth - your life is filled with things that bring you shame, but Christ has the ability and desire to edit those pages so the shame is no longer there.  Your life's dreams matter and Christ desires to make dreams a reality.  Your life may not be monumental in the eyes of others, but in his sight, it is magnificent.  

Learning to live life as an open book is indeed difficult, but it is equally as rewarding.  Isn't it time to allow the "editing" work of the hand of Christ in your life?