God's will

Thanks to King Cyrus, the Jews were allowed to return to their homeland to rebuild the temple. After the Jews had settled in their towns, they met in Jerusalem en masse (Ezra 3:1-6). Instead of starting the temple rebuilding project right away, they built an altar and offered sacrifices to God. This is significant! The act of sacrificing symbolized their commitment to God. They had their priorities right.

Brian Dyson, former CEO of Coca-Cola highlights the importance of priorities in this way:

"Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them - work, family, health, friends and spirit - and you're keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - family, health, friends and spirit - are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.”

As Christians, our top priorities must be God, the people He has entrusted to our care, and the calling He has given us to live. As we go through our day, may we keep first things first by continually offering ourselves as living sacrifices to God, sacrifices who are not conformed to the pattern of this world but who are transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1-2). Then, we will be in a better place to see His priorities – His good, pleasing and perfect will.

When child number four arrived last year, my wife and I decided to do something we had never done before – we bought a jogging stroller. We found a nice used one through friends at our church. For the most part, it does exactly what we hoped. We can take it over rough terrain. I can take my little guy with me when I go for a jog or when I slap on the roller-blades. The only frustrating thing about the stroller is that the front wheel does not pivot. That means that you’re constantly pushing the back wheels to the side or lifting the front wheel up to steer it.

The other day I took junior out for a walk in the rain. With my umbrella in hand, I was left with only one hand to try to steer the jogging stroller. I managed, but something interesting happened when we left the paved path and started to cross a bumpy stretch. I found that the bumps provided a natural lift to the front wheel that made it easier to turn the entire stroller.

Being a seminary professor and former pastor, I couldn’t help but think that there might be a deep theological truth in this phenomenon. I recalled a statement about God’s will that has sometimes guided my thinking and teaching over the years: God can’t steer a ship that’s not moving. The point is that it’s usually good to move in some direction and then allow God to make midcourse corrections as He sees fit. If a ship is not moving, then no amount of steering will make a difference. What struck me as I marveled over the ease of steering the stroller over bumpy terrain was that sometimes we are more open to God’s midcourse corrections when we are going through a bumpy season of life. Perhaps, we’re desperate for God to show up. We know we’re in trouble and realize that we can’t navigate without His help.

As we encounter bumps in life, may they remind us to surrender control to God and to let Him steer us through the challenges.