Each Monday I arise from bed and find myself in need. Typically a long week is stretched out before me and I’m usually wrestling with the flickering desire to pull the covers back over my head and sleep until Thursday mid-morning. Knowing that I have no realistic option other than beginning the work week, I find my mind racing for some motivation to get my body moving. Today it seemed that the inner voice was prepared ahead of time and I heard in my mind the following words from more than 2,600 years ago:
“Call unto Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you’ve never known.” – Jeremiah 33:3
Let’s be honest and confess that most of us rarely live by the truth in that verse. Most of us don’t consider that God is willing (though we surely believe He is able) to act on our behalf in a manner that is astounding. No, we typically place God in a legal size manilla file folder and keep Him there in case we happen upon something slightly larger than ourselves. When we do encounter that slightly-larger-than-ourselves challenge, we pull God out of our trusty manilla folder and let Him energize us all the way back to the beloved status quo, whereupon we quickly place Him back in the folder until we need His mediocrity again. It’s my observation that many Christians have as the aim of their life for God to keep them safe. Radical, mind bending, faith stretching, nature defying moves of God were for the book of Acts, not for 21st century saints. We are capable. We are sophisticated. We are dignified and educated and advanced. People like us merely need a little assistance from the Almighty, not some Heaven-blessed bundle of “great and mighty things” which we’ve never known.
Why don’t we trust what God told Jeremiah in 33:3? How come we don’t believe the New Testament parallel truth of Ephesians 3:20 which describes God as being able to “do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think”? My bible tells me on a tired Monday that I’m invited to call upon the God who will show me things I’ve never seen and will abundantly exceed the greatest desires of my heart and thoughts of my mind. But we feel intimidated asking Him for a healing. We shuffle our feet when a financial need finds us and wonder if God can spare a dime. Unsaved love ones and friends who live another day in unbelief seem to us that they are beyond the reach of the God of all grace and mercy. When our emotions are dark and cloudy, when the enemy has positioned himself for another day of attack, when our spirits are dry and dusty…we do not always recognize the whisper of Heaven when it invites us again to “Call on Me. Call on Me. Call on ME.”
What’s stopping you from appropriating these simple yet explosive truths into your day today? The promise has not been tried and found deficient. No, the promise has been found robust but untried. Why don’t you take God out of the manilla sized folder of your mind and welcome Him to prove Himself to you. That’s not an irreverent consideration! That’s an expression of your trust that God will be who He says He will be. He’s never been outmatched but He has certainly been underestimated. It’s time for that to change in your life. Call upon Him…
…until He answers with thunder.
Thank you for expressing my heart this morning….It is overcast and the gray skies match the
feeling I got up with today. After my quiet time and your blog…my day is brighter…and I
thank God and you for this message.
I find myself despondent and needing this today. The manila folder has been not only opened but I shredded that bad boy!! Maybe I will be more likely to stay away from my on self (un)self sufficiency?!?