May The Lord Go Before Us
Sam Hamstra | Jul 22, 2008
This past week I heard a great story about an American Christian couple living in Lithuania contemplating adoption. God had blessed this couple with three biological children but, through their volunteer interaction with a local orphanage, the couple wondered if God would have them provide a loving home for one or more additional children. As they prayerfully considered this option, they concluded that they would adopt another child, but, then, they couldn't decide whether to adopt a new-born infant or an older child. Finally, just before traveling to the orphanage - one they had never visited - they turned the matter over to the Lord with a simple prayer: "Lord, go before us."
Upon arriving at the orphanage, they were greeted by a woman, one whom they had never met. Interestingly, she claimed to know them. She was, in fact, waiting for them. When asked how she knew about them, the hostess responded, "The man who came just before you told me about you." Her conversation with the one who came before them led her to recommend that the couple adopt, not one, but three siblings, ages 13,11, and 4. They did so confident that the Lord had gone before them.
Hearing that story, I came under conviction. I thought about all the times when I made the plan - nailing down every detail - and then asked God to bless it. Sure, I prayed before making the plan, asking the Lord to guide my sinful but sanctified mind. But, truth be told, I didn't want the Lord to go before me because He might have in mind a plan different from mine.
So, how would God would have us make decisions? Does he want us to pray, make the plan, and, then, work the plan? Is that approach consistent with Solomon's teaching in Proverbs 3:5-6 where the wisest man to ever live encourages us to trust in the Lord, lean not on our own understanding, in all our ways acknowledge the Lord, believing that He will direct our path?
What I am getting at here is the relationship between prayer and planning, between humble dependence upon the Lord and humble (or proud?) dependence on our own understanding, between working as if it depends on ourselves and praying as if it depends upon the Lord. I am wrestling with what it means to allow the Lord to go before us, to give the Spirit freedom to shape our futures, and to embrace an unimaginable tomorrow (Ephesians 3:20-21).
What I am thinking, if not confessing, is that I, and perhaps you, tend to make our plans and ask God to bless them! And that may be OK, assuming we ask and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us through the deliberative process. But let us, at the same time, acknowledge that, when taking that approach, we may be limiting our futures to that which we can imagine. (Sad to say, truth be told, we prefer our plan over God's plan. We prefer a known future to an unknown future, certainty to uncertainity.)
There is another approach. Before coming to a fork in the road where we have to decide to go left or right, let us pray, "Lord, go before us!" Then, when we get to the fork, we will learn that one has gone before us. Somehow or someway we will receive a word from the Lord that directs our path. And here's the beauty of asking the Lord to go before us: we not only place our hope in the Lord, but lay open the possibility for His unimaginable blessings in our lives (Ephesians 3:20-21).
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