Your Move

When I was young I was always eager to get the boxes of cereal that had prizes inside of them.  One of my favorite toys was the sliding puzzle.  You could spend hours trying to slide each tile into the correct sequence.  As I was thinking about the sliding puzzle I saw an uncanny parallel to my life.  With God holding the puzzle of my life, He moves one of the tiles and I try to move it back to where things are familiar, comfortable and predictable.  Then He moves it moves again and then He moves another tile and another.  What in the world is God doing in my life shifting all these pieces of my life into unlikely spots.  I am sure my life can not possibly function with such disruption.  It must be a mistake all this shifting about and making me try new ways of doing things that seem pointless.

I remember when I was just starting my job at Mt. Gilead.  I was hired on as Dave’s assistant.  I had just come from working as a medical records coder at Memorial Hospital.  I had a cubicle, a desk, a computer, phone and an enormous ICD-9 Coding book.  I had everything I needed to be competent and if anything in my area broke, particularly my computer they would hustle somebody up to my cubicle and fix it immediately, because the coding department generated money for the hospital. That was my world.  When I switched to ministry work I had no desk, computer or phone.  I had to jump on other people’s desks at night when they were off duty (thank you Brian Lites…I think I used your desk the most…it was tidy and you were very easy going about sharing your space.).  It was a humble start to working at camp.  I remember getting discouraged as I was talking to board member Ken Nicholas and sharing that I wasn’t very efficient at what I was doing.  It felt so time consuming and inefficient without these basic tools.  And he said something I will never forget.  He said, “Sometimes God isn’t interested in our efficiency.  If he was He wouldn’t have used twelve very human, fallible disciples to evangelize the world.” 

Message received.  God is always interested in using His children for His glory and our benefit, but the process is rarely neat, tidy or convenient. More often than not it is slow, messy and costly.  It requires our dependence and focus on Him and a determination not to quit or check out when positive results are elusive, invisible or just not coming at all.  Some of the prophets of the Old Testament found themselves in this circumstance repeatedly.  And God’s advice:

“The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a

The Classic Slide Puzzle

rebellious people—they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or be terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people.  You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious.  But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious people; open your mouth and eat what I give you.”  Ezekiel 2:4- NIV

We may not be called to such adversity as the prophets, but it is good to know that when God seeks to use us, He is far more interested in our obedience to His directions that our efficiency from our vantage point.  AW Tozer wrote, “The view is better farther up and the journey is not one for the feet but for the heart.” 

“Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths.  Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.”  Psalms 25:4-5