This came to me in response to my own shoulders shrugging off what I knew God wanted to do in my life. I felt like an adolescent who says, “Don’t touch me,” even though what I really needed was some discipline and direction.
Ps. 138:8
“The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me:
Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands.”
Ooh, I want your purpose. I want steadfast love. I want forever.
“Girl, you just asked for it, big time!”
Isaiah 64:8
“But now, O Lord, you are our Father,
we are the clay, and you are our potter:
we are all the work of your hand.”
I love being the work of your hand. That is just an amazing thought!
Wait! What is this pounding and wedging, this dizzying spin on a wheel, the heat of the furnace?
This… is steadfast love?
Ow! I didn’t sign up for this!
Oh, yes.
I guess I did.
“Stop resisting the Potter, girl.
“Do you want to fly off the wheel into the uselessness of the repurposing bucket?
“Of course you will get another chance, but it won’t be easier or feel better than this one did.”
And now they quote Romans 8: 28 for me.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
And that’s where they stop quoting, but what is this purpose really? I am not feeling it at all. Let me see what the next verse says.
“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers?”
Really? All those things that are supposed to work together for my good..?
It sounds like he is doing it on purpose to make me look and act like Jesus… like this was the plan from the beginning of the world.
Hmmm, apparently being in the family is more than a sweet thought in God’s mind, more personal than a name on a family tree. This sure feels personal anyway.
I am not getting the idea here that he says, “Oh, I just cannot resist your cuteness,” and then gives me everything I want. I have actually been kind of bratty and rebellious.
I guess God takes family resemblance pretty seriously. I guess love looks a little like training, just like he promised.
It’s not that I don’t want his hand on my life, it’s just that I like to complain when it’s uncomfortable and I don’t get my way.
“Girl,” he puts his hand on my shoulder again, “you have my steadfast love. You asked for it. I will not ever forsake the work.”
And look at this. Here’s the best part in verse 31:
“What then shall we say to these things?”
If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Wow. I guess I will quit whining now.
wocket in my pocket 