In my childhood, the biggest mistake that could be made was to mention within earshot of my Paw-Paw Parish that you were bored. He was a farmer and there was always work to be done on the farm. So we were always busy – either busy working or busy avoiding Paw-Paw. Life with our Father is anything but boring. If we are walking in His ways with our hearts sensitive to His leading, we find that He is always up to something new (Isa. 43:19).
Abraham, Noah, Ruth, Moses, Esther, Jonah, David, Mary, Paul and hundreds of other Biblical personalities would attest to this truth. God is anything but mundane, predictable, or manageable. He is gloriously surprising – leading us into new challenges, spurring us on to greater levels of spiritual maturity, filling us with love for others we’ve never before experienced, calling us to serve others in ways we’d never dreamed. To paraphrase a Max Lucado comment, “God loves you just as you are – He just refuses to leave you that way.”
Jesus said, “My Father is always at his work…” (John 5:17). He never gets discouraged with failures, never takes time off, never gets distracted – He just keeps working. The only question is, “Am I working with or against what He is doing in my life?”
A friend of mine stepped up to the plate a little over a year ago and said, “I have a problem and it’s time to deal with it” (paraphrased). Held in the grip of a vicious addiction for some forty years, he listened to what God was saying about his condition and said, “No more. The Enemy has robbed me of joy, peace and intimacy with God and people for long enough.” I’ve watched my friend over the past year and wondered many times if God or my friend was doing this amazing work? The answer I keep coming back to is, “Yes.” In a way I can’t fully comprehend or explain, my friend and God are working together to gain victory after victory. As bystanders, we are seeing a life transformed right before our eyes. My friend cannot do it without God, and God will not do it without my friend‘s cooperation.
Howard Macey said, “The spiritual life cannot be made suburban. It is always frontier, and we who live in it must accept and even rejoice that it remains untamed.” Don’t waste your life looking for a quiet little place on some tranquil cul-de-sac in spiritual suburbia. Get out there on the frontier and live the adventure of walking with God. You’ll never be bored (and Paw-Paw would love that).
