You might think I’m strange, but one of
my all-time favorite Bible verses is Acts 13:36 (NIV), “Now when David had served
God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep [he died]; he was buried
with his ancestors and his body decayed.”
Why do I love that verse? Because David
must have died in peace. He must have died a fulfilled man. David died with the
satisfaction that he had served God’s purposes for his own generation—that is,
for his lifetime, for his time on earth.
When my time comes to die, oh, how I long
to know I served God’s purposes for my generation!
But there’s a tug and pull to that, a
back and forth to that.
Remember what I told you last week? I was
afraid I couldn’t trust God enough to take a wild-eyed, stomach-cramping,
howling leap of faith and give up a steady income and good health insurance and,
instead, live on a small and unpredictable missionary income.
 |
| Mt. Kilimanjaro; Linda K. Thomas photo |
And yet, could it be that if I refused
to trust God to meet our needs, and if that led me to decide not to go to
Africa—might I fail to serve God’s purposes for my life?
I admit to having a weak faith. I admit
to doubting God’s love and power and provisions. But my heart also soars when He
reminds me how faithful He has been in the past.
I am a slow learner, but over the
years,
I’ve come to believe that
one key to being willing
to trust God is this:
We must remember
God’s faithfulness
and help in the past.
When I remembered God’s specific help
to my husband and me fifteen years earlier—
when we had a financial crisis on the
mission field—
I grew more willing to trust Him
for our future financial needs in Africa.
(If you missed last week’s post, click
on
I confess I have lived in
far-from-perfect ways. Besides doubting God’s care, I’ve made selfish choices,
spoken hurtful words, failed to act with love and generosity, and on and on and
on. But somehow—by God’s mindboggling grace—He cleans us up, and—mindboggling
again—He invites us to pursue the unique purposes He created each of us to
fulfill.
“I do not at all understand the mystery
of grace—
only that it meets us where we are
but does not leave us where it found
us.”
Only because of God’s grace can I hope
He can use me—flawed as I am—to implement the purposes He created me to fulfill
for my generation.
Yes, when my time comes to die, I long
to know I strived—even though imperfectly—to fulfill God’s purposes for my
generation.
How about you?
If we are going to fulfill the unique
purposes
God has for each of us for our generation,
what specific decisions must we make—right
now?
What actions must we take—right now?
We can trust that God’s purposes for us
are good.
“‘For
I know the plans I have for you,’
declares the Lord,
‘plans to prosper you and not to harm
you,
plans to give you hope and a future.’”
Jeremiah 29:11, NIV
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