Do you ever find yourself wishing for a place to hide? Some quiet place, away from your doubts and fears?
A secure place—a strong place—that could help you, and hold you?
You may not know much about it, or think much about it—this subject of “resting” in God.
It can be so elusive, that it may lead you to wonder if such a place is even real. It can be a mystery—hidden, yet right out in the open.
Let’s process some thoughts together. With God’s help, we can understand and find this place.
This life that we currently possess is a mystery itself, in many ways. It brings every conceivable question to mind—questions which almost always begin with why, what if, who, and how.
But here is a bigger question: Is this struggle of life—the moments, days and years that we live—really life, at all? To me, the short answer is yes—and no.
Yes, it certainly feels like life. It looks like life. It smells, sounds, and tastes like life. And it is.
But sometimes, in order for us to better understand what something is, we need to understand what it isn’t.
As scripture states in 1 Corinthians,
“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
As tangible as this life is, this isn’t living—not really. Not yet. This is simply the loan of life. A temporary life.
This momentum of living we all experience day after day, is actually keeping us in motion—while we decide who we will be, to God. We live our days, and make our life decisions—either to befriend the Creator of all things, or to reject or marginalize Him.
Are we to be His friend, or His enemy? Are we to serve Him, or oppose Him? To belong to Him, or to ourselves?
This isn’t life—no, not yet. If it was, it wouldn’t end. But it does end—every time, to every one. As it states in James, “For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”
A passenger plane circles high above the airport runway. It remains there, in its confined airspace. It has to—because it can not land. It can not complete its journey—something is holding it there.
Maybe it’s bad weather, or some problem at the airport. The passengers aboard can only guess the reasons why—all they know is that there is a delay, keeping them from their destination.
However, the pilot understands clearly what is going on. He has to—he’s responsible for everyone on board the flight. He understands why they are not able to arrive at their destination—a fog that must lift, a blockage that must be removed.
The holding pattern continues, until the solution occurs.
Life is a holding pattern. And whether or not we understand, the reasons are real, planned and purposed. Nothing is ever out of the Divine Pilot’s control. That feeling of lack of control we experience during this “flight” of our lives, is not what God feels.
He knows the number of our days. The hairs of our head are all counted by Him. He knows the thoughts and intentions of every heart. He has complete understanding of all things, at all times.
Everything He is, and everything He does, points to the fact that He is in control. Complete control.
God holds everything, and everyone, everywhere, by the power of His Word. Is your heart beating right now? He told it to. Do you know Him? He allowed you to.
Today, we might be perfectly happy and carefree, and tomorrow we may be shattered, in total misery. But in God’s holding pattern of life, feelings have little to do with His reality.
Because feelings are feelings. But truth is fact.
So, am I saying that none of us are actually living? Isn’t this life we are living, real?
Yes, of course it is—it’s as real as God who created it.
But an example of life compared to the Life that awaits us—the Life that God has purposed for us to find—equates to a baby living in the womb, while waiting to be born. The difference is like night and day.
While we are on this earth, we are existing—waiting for our redemption to be complete (or, to never find it, or choose it.) We all wait, in our holding pattern of life.
We live, in part–with a partial understanding of it all. Need direction? Our big, red signpost simply states, “Jesus”—and we can read His love letter to us.
But God has purposed to limit our information. He has purposed us to be limited, because He is after something critical to our survival. He desires to extract something from us—our faith.
Faith—the ability to believe and trust in God, who we cannot see—and only know in part. He will joyfully fill in all the details later—that is, providing we pass His life-test of faith.
We might be thinking we were placed upon this earth to find a great career, or to marry and have a family—any number of meaningful goals that life may bring. And these are all important roles we might play.
But the reason we are here—the reason we live at all—is to discover and know the One who placed us here.
The One who makes it all possible. The One who makes it all make sense.
It always requires our faith to believe. The Bible declares that every man has received a measure of faith—that means we have all arrived preloaded with the ability to believe in God, and what He as purposed for us.
Within God’s purposes, this life is merely a taste of what is to come.
This life was never intended to provide the answer to our questions.
Rather, God has purposed that life is the question: Who am I? What is my life? And why?
Life is consistent—a pattern that each and every generation has lived out before us. And our generation—being at this place in time—can certainly see the pattern more clearly than those who lived before us.
We really are without excuse to not see it—the pattern of each generation of earth—in the grand design of God.
We must choose to take our eyes off ourselves and this life, and look at this grand design of God. We must choose to learn and know the purpose of it, and our purpose in it—to be His.
Maybe you have been dreaming of a mansion in the sky—who on earth could possibly afford such a place? Think of your short life of yours as the deposit to secure such a property. And since Jesus has already paid in full, it really is within reach.
Speaking of property, parts 2 and 3 of Finding Your Place in God will explain the “rest” of the story.
Can you rest in the knowledge that God Himself has everything within His perfect control—even now, in this out-of-control world we live in?