Charles Stricklin

During Bible study this morning, I was introduced to a devotional DVD series by Rob Bell, founding pastor of one of the fastest growing Christian churches in American history, the Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan. The series, called NOOMA, is made up of several short devotionals on DVDs that you can purchase at any Christian book and music store for about $10 apiece.

The episode we watched this morning was #6 - Kickball (PDF), where Bell used a metaphor of his young son’s insistence toward the purchase of a toy to which he was denied to our questioning God’s plan for our lives.

Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that all good gifts come from God, and that He has great plans for each and every one of us. Luke 11:11-13 talks about how God wants to give us good things, it’s just that what we think we want or need isn’t always what’s best for us, and we lack the perspective to know what, but He doesn’t. He knows what’s in store for us. He knows what we need. He know when we’ll need it. He also knows when some of the things we plead for would hurt us physically, emotionally or spiritually if He were to allow us to receive them.

I need to remember this lesson. Many times I’ve cried out to God about how lonely I am and how much I want a woman to love and have as my wife. Many times I’ve questioned God’s motives or whether or not He’s hearing me or whether it’s just that I’m not worthy. It’s probably not any of those things. It’s probably just that, up until now, it hasn’t been a part of God’s plan for my life. Maybe it never will be. If it isn’t, then it wasn’t meant to be anyway.

Sure, I may cry and wail like a small child because I don’t get my way, but in the end, my Heavenly Father looks out for me and loves me and provides for me. It doesn’t get any better than that!

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 9th, 2006 at 12:25 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.