It is a 'process' thing

Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught. (Winston Churchill)

How many of us are like Churchill - liking it when we actually learn something new, but really dreading the whole bit about being taught that lesson? It is nice to discover something new, but it is a little more difficult for us to accept when that discovery comes with a bit of hard work, isn't it? I used to ace tests, but recently had the opportunity to sit with my eldest grandson who is struggling with Algebra II in high school. I did pretty well in this subject back about 50 years ago! Today, it is like I am having to relearn all the principles again in order to remember how to solve those equations and it is HARD work! I don't know about you, but when something is that 'hard' in life, I tend to resist it a little. When life lessons are 'hard', it is not uncommon for us to want to just bury our heads in the sand, or run from them completely. The 'process' of being taught is what we resist, not the lesson.

My son, if you receive my sayings and store up my teachings within you, make your ear open to wisdom. Turn your heart to understanding. If you cry out to know right from wrong, and lift your voice for understanding; if you look for her as silver, and look for her as hidden riches; then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find what is known of God. For the Lord gives wisdom. Much learning and understanding come from His mouth. (Proverbs 2:1-6)

If you have hung around with me now for any time at all, you know I am a 'process' person. In other words, I see things in terms of the 'steps' we have to take to accomplish what needs to be done. That isn't a problem if my 'steps' all line up with the 'process' as God has designed it! It becomes a problem when I want to add or take away steps in the process - because then it changes the entire process and the lesson being taught may actually produce a different 'learning' than God prepared for us. If you don't believe me, think about the last time you were 'disobedient' in some sense. It may have been when you knew you should have kept your mouth shut, but you just couldn't. You found yourself jumping in and perhaps you stumbled along a while, words just 'falling' out of your mouth. When it was all 'said and done', you had some 'mop up' work to do. What lesson was learned? Perhaps you learned the 'mop up' is harder than just not saying anything at all!

The plan is for obedience. The actions required are 'systematic' - there is a process to obedience. We listen and then respond appropriately. Just like with the algebra equation - I cannot just jump in and say 'x' equals this or that. I have to understand the 'process' of which parts of the equation get solved and in what order they are solved. Obedience in my daily walk isn't much different. I need to understand which parts of today's issues are mine to 'solve' and which ones are not. If I add in the ones that aren't mine, the equation gets messy! Obedience or 'learning' requires a listening ear, but it also requires a submissive heart and mind. To always want my own way - solving problems by my own methods - will only complicate my life and yours!

The process is not always well-defined from the beginning. Sometimes we need to step back and just wait for the process to reveal itself a bit. Yet, even when the process is somewhat clear, we aren't to just rush that process - we need the wisdom of God to see how the rest of the process will be revealed and worked into what he has begun within us. If we are intent on following our own processes, we will frequently miss the 'simpler lessons' God brings in life. We have a tendency to 'complicate' our processes. If you don't believe me, try writing out how it is your car actually starts each day! To put is simply, I have the key fob close enough to the ignition switch, my foot on the brake, and my finger depressing the ignition switch. Is that the entire process? Absolutely not! There are lots and lots of other 'working parts' to this process, but we don't always see or understand them fully. We 'trust' them to work together, don't we?

Why is it that we have a hard time trusting God to 'work together' the processes of our lives? I think it comes from us not being willing to learn 'according to the process' he designs. We figure our plan mixed with his might just make things easier or quicker. I have to ask - how's that been working for you? For me, not so well! Instead of trusting God to reveal his plan, I charge ahead. God doesn't always want us to just 'hang around' while he puts all the pieces together in our lives, but he doesn't want us messing with the process either! Obedience is a 'process thing', equally as much as disobedience is a 'failure to follow the process' thing! Just sayin!

Hand me the pick-ax

Undeterred - not able to be restrained from action. Wouldn't most of us like to say our walk with Jesus is rather "undeterred" - there is nothing that distracts us, keeps us from moving forward, or discourages us in our pursuit of right-living? Truth be told, there are a whole lot of things that 'deter' us each and every day - most of which we have total control over! The commission given to the disciples was to "go", followed closely by "train". Both are significant action words - one suggesting we don't remain stagnant, firmly planted somewhere, not moving - while the other signifies a specific course of action. My BFF is bilingual and she often attempts to help me gain a little bit of conversational Spanish along the way. My Spanish is helpless! It is as though my mind has a barrier to retaining this stuff! She aptly points out that I have no problem learning something new when it comes to Excel database writing, so why do I have a road-block to learning Spanish? I think it has to do with the 'action' I invest in the pursuit! Much of what we realize in life is because of some action - we take steps toward something and we begin to see the progress made with each step. Many of us stop way short of the progress we should be making, simply because we don't take the next step!

Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20 MSG)

Where would we be today if the disciples just stopped short of their commission? The first churches wouldn't have been planted. The first missionaries wouldn't have carried the message outside of the city gates. The 'first' always marks the beginning - the hope is that their will always be a 'next'. Thomas Edison said, "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." Sad truth, but the truth nonetheless. We often don't 'go' because it involves work. We don't 'train' because it is kind of hard to learn some of this stuff ourselves. We have a preconceived idea about how opportunity comes our way in life - we think silver platter, while God thinks 'get out the pick-ax'. We want it all when it comes to the blessings, but weare seldom comfortable getting out of our comfort zone when the blessing requires a little effort on our part!

While I know this passage is about the 'Great Commission' - the sending out of the disciples to make converts of many - I also think it applies to our everyday life. We need to see the pattern of go and train. As we go, we are learning. As we take action, results begin to follow. As we go, others are encouraged by our progress. It is a cycle - one goes, another is touched, now two are going, and so on. We don't 'go' alone. In just that same way, we aren't expected to learn the life lessons alone - we are guided into learning, but there is effort on our part to learn. We are given the tools, but we have to take them up and use them. I have lots of gardening tools, but my garden doesn't reflect anything about these tools until they are used. It may not reveal it was a pick-ax that loosened the soil beneath the surface, but without that pick-ax, the soil would be impenetrable. Without hard work, we might just not get 'trained' in the things God wants us to know and experience in life. Just sayin!

These steps won't register on my smartwatch

The instructions to each believer are clear - get out there and walk!  Okay, before you jump off the deep end and tune me out, I am not heading down the path of needing to adopt a physical exercise program! Although most of us need a little more exercise in our day, there are a lot of 'steps' we take that won't 'add up' on our step counter smartwatch!  We do need to be active in our spiritual walk - avoiding the urge to settle in and rest comfortable in the realm of our spiritual growth - something we could do very easily if things are going quite well at the moment. It would make Satan very happy to know that we have decided "we've arrived" and then just settle in and relax in what we have received in Christ without growing any further! The 'urge' to move forward is seldom there when everything is 'going well', but we almost run at full speed when things are going wrong! Why is that? We are desperate for deliverance! Maybe we need to be as 'desperate' for consistent growth as we are for deliverance!

In light of all this, here's what I want you to do. While I'm locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don't want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don't want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.  (Ephesians 4:1-3 MSG)

It is a pretty well-marked road that God has called us to travel - to make strides, some quicker than others, but we are called to make consistent progress toward a goal.  In our spiritual walk, we are always preparing for a journey! We no sooner get to one destination in Christ that we are preparing for our next! It isn't that God doesn't want us to enjoy where we are at - he just knows what he has prepared just beyond that point! Behind the scenes of our life, there are "planners" who are operating under God's guidance with the sole purpose of preparing the course and readying the experiences we will encounter in along the way.  Our part is to be ready, packed and anticipatory of the hour we are to begin the next journey - not being content to just 'settle in' where we are right now.

We ready ourselves in a lot of different ways - some pretty clear such as by exposing ourselves to the Word, allowing it to take root in our lives.  Other preparations may not be as clear - such as those things we 'guard against' much in the same way we pack sunscreen for a trip to the beach, or bug spray for a trip into the woods. All preparation is important, and these are not steps we can skip. As we prepare for the journey ahead, we are laying up "provisions" for our journey - we are prepared in advance for what it is we might come to experience. The path is revealed for us little by little sometimes - rather than in huge chunks that help us to clearly know where we are going.  We can count on his leading to be just the course we need to travel in order to accomplish maximum benefit for our journey. All our courses will include twists and turns we cannot clearly see around, but if we 'hug the road' tightly, remaining consistently on the right side of the 'dividing line', we will be safe in our journey!

We make "fits and starts", but we are warned against these all too common of an occurrence in our lives - the journey needs to be consistently taking us in the forward direction with the key word being 'consistently' here!  We mean well, then "peter" out somewhere along the way.  Remember this - the enjoyment of the journey is in taking it, not in observing it from a position of idleness.  So, today is a new day for each of us.  Are we ready to take some steps forward today?  The journey awaits! Just steppin!

But....but....but...

Ever find yourself paralyzed by fear? Considering something 'ominous' in front of you, with memories of what you once had behind you? These thoughts plague us and we find ourselves wondering if we can ever make it past the past and getting fully into the present. There isn't much hope of ever experiencing the 'newness' of the present until we let go of all the excuses we offer to attempt to stay connected with our past!

Attention, Israel! This very day you are crossing the Jordan to enter the land and dispossess nations that are much bigger and stronger than you are. You're going to find huge cities with sky-high fortress-walls and gigantic people, descendants of the Anakites—you've heard all about them; you've heard the saying, "No one can stand up to an Anakite."  Today know this: God, your God, is crossing the river ahead of you—he's a consuming fire. He will destroy the nations, he will put them under your power. You will dispossess them and very quickly wipe them out, just as God promised you would.  (Deuteronomy 9:1-3)

A blessed land for a chosen people - but not before some conditions were met. We find Israel spending 40 years wandering around the small wilderness region between Egypt's border and the land of Canaan - not a very long journey, but one that took them loads longer than it needed to simply because of their lack of trust and rebellion! After many years of aimless wandering, they finally stand ready to enter into the promises of God - but before they can possess what is promised, they must 'dispossess' some other stuff. Stronger armies, seemingly impenetrable fortresses, and giants await them as they take the first steps into what God had promised them.  If I were standing in their sandals, I'd be wondering if God had been kidding when he said he had "good stuff" for me just on the other side of the river!  I'd have wondered if God had maybe been a little mixed up in his attention to detail here. The things ahead of me would have made me a little skeptical, to say the least.

We sometimes find ourselves in similar circumstances, looking ahead, knowing we need to "make our move", and we are almost paralyzed by fear because of what lays just beyond the borders of where we are now and where we are headed. We might make excuses for our unwillingness to take the first step - focusing squarely on the insurmountable odds rather than the imperceptible strength of our God - pointing out each and every pitfall along the journey. Perhaps we have been asked to take steps toward something and away from something else.  It may be that God has been tugging at our heart, asking us to spend time and energy on something we find hard.  We look at what is just ahead and all we see is rock-solid walls that seem like they will never be penetrated.  We want to 'step out', but we only feel waves of paralyzing fear in face of past failures.  Wherever we find ourselves this morning, God is saying, "It is time to take the first step. Trust me to guide you."

We don't take those first steps alone. As the nation of Israel stood on the very edges of what God promised to them, God stood alongside.  GOD (Jehovah) - the unchanging one, the one who becomes all we need, the one holding us accountable - stands ready to go alongside.  God (Elohim) - the creator of all things, the possessor of absolute power and authority, the covenant keeping God - stands ready to exhibit his power on our behalf and not let one of his promises fall short of completion in our lives. Look at his position - he goes ahead of us to put under his power all that would stand in the way of our victory!  That means he is going ahead of us to bring understanding into our times of personal chaos and confusion.  He is going ahead of us into the fearful places of budding relationship and past failures.  He is the consuming fire - the fire that burns through our doubt and fear; the fire that illuminates our path; the God that creates newness where we can only see devastation.  

I know this passage refers to where Israel stood that day, but I believe it has meaning for us, as well. God is to be realized as both our unchanging one and our becoming one. He is the Alpha and Omega - the beginning of newness in our lives and the finisher of all that he promises. Walls may seem huge, and even impenetrable - holding us back from realizing what awaits us on the other side. There is no "wall" that can withstand his power or authority - no enemy can stand in the midst of his mighty acts on our behalf. Giants may loom over us - God stands taller and stronger than any giant standing in our way. Today is a day of new beginnings - it is definitely time to step out, God going ahead of us, preparing the way for us. Our part is to take the first step - his is to go ahead of us, driving out the giants and tearing down the walls. His part is to be all we need - our part is to be obedient to his voice. Is God urging you to step out today? If so, take the first step knowing whole-heartedly that he goes ahead of you! Just steppin!