Luke 1
(11) and he [Zacharias] saw an angel of the Lord in his place on the right of the alter … [13] the angel said “have no fear for your prayers have come to the ear of God. Your wife Elisabeth will have a son … [18] Zacharias said “how can I be certain of this? For I am an old man and my wife is on in years … [20] Gabriel (the angel) said “you will now be without voice or language until the day these things come about because you did not have faith in my words.”
Wow! I’m sure Zach and Elisabeth had wanted and prayed for children for a long time. Gabriel even says “your prayers have been heard,” and Gabriel’s message is “you’re going to have a son.” But, even after Gabriel’s message, Zach is like “are you sure? I know a little about the human body; I’m old, she’s old … you sure you’ve got the right guy?” Then Gabriel says, “OK, you don’t believe me? You’re not going to talk until this comes true. Then maybe you’ll learn to have more faith in what God has to say.”
I’ve had similar reactions before, I’m sure we all have. God, are you sure you’re talking to the right person? Don’t you know all the circumstances in my life right now that make it hard for me to believe your plan? I went through that for three years before finally getting that “aha” moment and surrendering to His plan. I’ve been leading worship since January of 1995. Through years and experiences, I can now see how God was preparing me. In 2003, when the time came for us to leave Springfield and come to Kansas City, I knew that this was the perfect time to jump into God’s worship/music ministry for me … He even told me.
We were at a youth camp in the summer of 2003 in Kansas, and God laid it out like a salesman overcoming objections. He probably did more dealing with me that week than with any of the 400 students who were there. God said:
- You have no full-time job – no excuse.
- You a great band playing with you already – no excuse.
- You have “extra” resources at your disposal – no excuse.
- You have a network of support – no excuse.
- You money available to buy almost anything you need – no excuse.
- You have one child with daycare provided – no excuse.
But, just like Zacharias, I said “are You sure? Let me work out the details, and I’ll get back with you.” Now, I wasn’t struck with muteness, but:
- time got taken up with a job
- band went away
- resources dwindled … or broke
- network moved further and further away
- money was eaten up by other things
- any mention of my job made me sick and miserable
- oh, and my wife found out she was pregnant a few weeks later
In 2005, I was at another youth camp. I was there as a leader, and in the camp pastor’s very first message he was outlining the week and said something like, “… and some of you may be called into ministry …” Not that I wasn’t paying attention, but that got my attention. Then he says, “… but we’re not going to talk about that now.” I actually felt a sigh of relief! I should have seen it coming right then. Later in the week the camp pastor was in his message, and I was sitting on row 3 or 4 of a 1,500 seat auditorium. He gets to a part where he says, “… you remember back on the first night when I said some of you may be called into ministry this week? Well, ” – and I swear that he stops and looks right at me – “some of you have already been called, and have put it off for far too long.”
Right then I wanted to crawl under my seat. Everything had suddenly become crystal clear about what God was saying to me back in ’03, and made perfect sense. But, back in 2003 I wanted to get all the details in order and get a plan in place on how to make this work. I was really hung up on the fact that my wife was already on staff at a church, and how would we make it work if we were both in different facets of ministry (her in local church and me traveling).
At the end of his message, he had all the decisions for ministry stand, and people prayed for us, etc. My wife happened to be across the auditorium with another group, but later came over and said one of the most affirming statements I’ve ever heard … “I was wondering when you were going to do this. I’ve only been waiting since we moved up here.” I was absolutely floored and affirmed at the same time!
Short story long, I’m trying to take the approach of – Have faith and trust in the plan. If I believe that God is in control, then He is big enough to work out the details. Don’t get so caught up in the circumstances of life that you can’t see that God can eliminate those circumstances. God can make a way, where there seems to be no way.
God, help me to put faith and trust in Your perfect word and plan. Help me to not let my vision get in the way of Your vision.
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