The Fork In The Road
Choices. We have to make choices. Good ones. But not just so we have a better way...
FAITHGROWTH
Matt Davenport
3/17/20244 min read
Life gets complicated. It's not a new thing. We deal with struggles all the time. From birth to death. Sometimes they're huge and sometimes simple without dramatic impacts. Each one gives us a fork in our road.
When we travel, we turn corners, we choose the path. If we choose a way that points north and we need to go south, we have to make corrections. Our walk with God is just like that.
Our path, the one Nancy and I are on, has been going towards a house of our own for several years. Numerous times coming close. But this time it was a sure deal.
Only it wasn’t.
On last Wednesday evening we sat at a meal with many others, bragging about what God did. How He opened a door and the remarkable path that led to it. How the house and the property was exactly what we’d been praying for. We explained in detail how wonderful it would be to fit our needs and desires. We were ecstatic and the table of people were with us on it. God is so good!
Thursday afternoon we were told that the house had too many issues with it to move forward. God is still so good.
For a month we had been bragging God’s goodness up to everyone we had a chance to tell about it. To testify of His faithfulness. To remind others of His provisions.
Then our world was shattered. Not just because we lost the house, but because we knew this was God’s hand and His promise.
Job was brought into his trial at the suggestions of God. Abraham waited 25 years for the promise and then was told to go and murder it (him). Jesus came to save us, the promised Messiah and after being baptized (to fulfill all righteousness) was “forced” to go into the wilderness where he would fast and then be tempted by the devil.
I have a home and food. A job and a beautiful wife. I am taken care of.
And if I hear one more person say that “God has something better for you…” I might puke. Just being real over here.
This whole thing leaves us questioning ourselves, knowing we aren’t perfect, yet wondering how perfect we need to be.
I find so much wisdom from God in the midst of worship. Yet this morning I was so distraught in worship at church that I couldn’t enter in to save my life. I leaned in next to Nancy’s ear and asked, “Do you think anyone would notice if we left?” I didn’t want to be there.
Those that knew didn’t know what to say and so said nothing. With a couple exceptions. Those that didn’t were silenced by it. Everyone knows our situation and the desire to have a place of our own. That all said is not to make anyone feel bad. Please, I am just being honest and no one, not a single person, did anything that made anything worse. I just found myself with no idea what to do next. Yes, that means we have to rely on Jesus. We get that. Got that. Another one we understand and do not need to be told again.
So, what do you say to someone who just spent a month focused on the house of their dreams only to have it pulled out from under them? Well, to be honest, you say, “Suck it up, buttercup.” Yeah, maybe not quite like that. But, whatever.
Let me tell what Jesus said.
At some point in the worship (which was extraordinary) God got my mind off of me long enough for me to hear Him. He showed me a picture. It was a fork in the road. Well, more of a path. One path led to the left and was fairly even and slightly downward. The other path that led to the right went upward. And it appeared to continue steeper and steeper.
He said, “You are being given a choice. The one way is fairly easy. And it leads to Heaven. The other is difficult, and it also leads to Heaven. One will keep you in the place you are, and one will cause you to draw closer to Me because of need. It will be harder so you will need Me more.
“Your moment is meant to glorify me and help others. It’s not about you. But it is about you making a choice to walk this path that will take more of your commitment and less of your comfort.”
I’m never gonna have it all. My cars will always need fixing. My bank account will never be flush. I’m never gonna be the popular guy everyone wants to meet. I’m not lamenting, please. I see a reality that is bigger and eternal. When I get to Heaven, it’s not likely that people are going to be standing around applauding. But Jesus will be waiting.
In truth, I want the comforts of life. But not at the expense of what God has planned.
Go read Job. Despite the reputation he has, he screwed things up pretty bad. But God had confidence in him. I’m starting to realize that He has confidence in us. In me. In Nancy. In a lot more people than we think.
So, regardless of what you are dealing with, know that much of your struggles are because at some point, in some way, through some method God set you up because He trusts you and has confidence in you. And if anyone knows whether or not you are trustworthy, it’s the Guy who made you.
Linn County, Oregon
541-220-9992