He's Got This

Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. (Isaiah 40:10-11)

I've been stressed out about my life plans. I prayed to God for direction, because I was stressed about not having any foreseeable plan; then, He gave me a next step, and I got stressed about doing it--because it is not something I know how to do.

I didn't think I was an easily-stressed person as far as "planning my life" went, and for the most part, that's been very true. For most of my life decisions so far, the Holy Spirit has told me what to do, and usually it's been something fun and easy.

But I think what happens as we grow with Him is that He begins to soften our hearts to bigger designs...and we have to start facing facts that what He wants to do for us is awesome, but it also might be hard...and possibly--gasp!--uncomfortable.

Yuck. Heaven forbid there might be a chance you'll be uncomfortable!

God has been gently leading me my whole life to the place where I am finally able to accept that the rest of my life will not be comfortable. Not necessarily in a worldly sense--painful, or impoverished, or lost, or alone, or one of the many other physical circumstances that make us uncomfortable. I think this discomfort is the discomfort of confronting the unfamiliar, of not knowing how to do things. In fact, I am learning that I am for real going to be completely unable to do what I've been called to do on my own, and I am going to walk whistling up to the door of the impossible, praying that He meets me there until the moment I reach the threshold.

I'm actually less afraid of physical discomfort than I am of not knowing the plan. But I think I've finally reached a place where I can accept that, for the rest of my life, He is only going to offer me one step at a time, because if He were to give me the whole picture, I would (in colloquial terms) totally and completely freak out, man!!!! (Where's the hyperventilation bag??!)

Now that I am at this place, now that I've realized that I am called to do things that I am unable to do without Him, it's important for me to stop and remember who it is that is doing the calling.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice." (John 10:1-4)

If we know His voice, we won't follow a stranger. He's not a hired hand who flees when things get hard. No--he gathers lambs in his arms.

You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. (Psalm 139:2-5)

He knows you. He knows your favorite color and remembers that time you dropped your ice cream cone in first grade. He is as acquainted with your daily habits (every morning Cheerio, every eyebrow hair you pluck, every dream you dream as you sleep) as you are. He is in every detail of our lives, because He is in us.

What's more...the one who loves us so much that He pursues to know our every thought and step isn't just some random guy. He's the one true God, the God who created the universe.

Isaiah continues in chapter 40 with a series of rhetorical questions:

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him counsel?....Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust....Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness....Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.

That's a hefty chunk, and I hate to extract only bits, so go and read the whole chapter yourself. This is a clear picture of God's character: He who stretched out the heavens, who can be taught by no one, carries you in His arms, against His chest, like a lamb.

Not one is missing. I'm reminded of Jesus' prayer shortly before He was crucified: "All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them...While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost..." (John 17:10 and 12)

Even when we're following His voice, and the mountain before us seems impossible, we are walking behind the Good Shepherd. In fact, we would never even confront the mountain if we weren't following Him--and don't you think the one who created the world would not lead you to a mountain if He didn't fully intend to prevail against it?

Sometimes, we just simply need to remember who He is.

So yes, I'll be doing things that are unfamiliar to me, even impossible for me alone. But that is the great joy of following Jesus: encountering the impossible, and then being carried through it like a lamb in the everlasting arms of the one true God.