We’ve stayed at our house in Mount Dora officially for twenty one days now. We had a huge amount of help from people moving our stuff from a storage garage in Lake Mary to Mount Dora. We even had some people help out unpacking and putting things together for us. We were extremely grateful and can’t fathom how many hours of work these brothers and sisters in Christ saved us in the long run.
Still though, we’ve had to do a lot of work. And Allison and I are both people who like to know where things are. I hate when I can’t find something I need. Currently, I’m driving around with expired license plates from Missouri. I was waiting to register my car until I had moved in because I have some of the papers that I need to register my car located in a safe. For days, however, we couldn’t find the safe so I can’t get my car registered. Finally, on Monday evening we found the safe! But, guess what? Now we can’t find the keys to get in the safe. Still looking and still driving around with expired plates! Please don’t report me!
And it got me thinking. How many times do we find something in our life that we’ve been looking for but are still dissatisfied? Or we still want more? Even when it comes to God, how many of us have thought: “Now that I’ve found God (or to be more theologically correct, “now that God found me”), things should go this way. My life should look this way now. Life will be better now. It will be different.”
And sometimes it just isn’t. It isn’t what we expected. God doesn’t come through for us the way we wanted him to. We wanted him to act one way but instead he acted in a different way.
God never promises to keep us happy or to fulfill our promises. But instead He promises that He has a plan, not just for us, but for the whole world. And somehow, in some way, the frustrating parts of life (all the way from not finding a key to a safe to much larger things like diseases, death, crime, etc.) will in one way work together for his glory. This seems impossible for me to understand.
Maybe you’ve found something you thought would bring fulfillment to your life and it hasn’t. Maybe there’s something in your life that you just can’t figure out or let go of right now. I take solace in Deuteronomy 29:29 which says, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” God calls us to trust him. And for me, who has a lot on my mind these days, it’s nice to know that I don’t have to have everything figured out. It’s nice to know that somebody else has things under control, even when I might disagree or question certain ways in which He does things.
Now if I can just find those keys…
Comments
Zach
You ladies were such a blessing for me throughout Seminary and I am so grateful for you!
Yes moving is frustrating - enjoyed reading your blog. Don't worry about finding the key. Just go to the Dept. of Motor Vehicles - they should be able to find your information via their computer & issue your Florida plates - this will alleviate your fears of being stopped and being fined. After you get the plates you'll find the key!
Loraine