There are times in our lives when God asks us to do things
that makes no sense to us at all. Remember Naaman in the Bible. He was a very
wealthy man, but had been struck with leprosy. He went to Jesus for help and
Jesus told him to go dunk himself in the river three times. This was ludicrous
to him, and angered him. His servants asked him, “What have you got to lose?
Give it a try” (my translation). So Naaman did as Jesus commanded and he was
healed.
Recently, I was asked to speak at a couples’ conference in
North Georgia. I assumed (first mistake) that this was a marriage conference. As
I was preparing my talk, I received an email with the conference schedule. As I
looked over it, I was baffled. This wasn’t a marriage conference at all – it was
a business conference hosted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. What in the
world did they want me to share?
I wrestled over what to say, and my husband, Jeff kept
encouraging me to just share my story. “You never know, but maybe God has one
person there that needs to hear it,” he urged.
The night before I was physically sick over this – what in
the world did I have to say to this group? Surely they don’t want to talk about
mental illness, suicide, and suffering at an 8:00 AM session the last day of the
conference.
Alas, I surrendered my hesitations and inadequacies, and I
went and shared with the group. I was astonished by the outcome. Several people
stayed afterwards to share with me about their own trials. One man even said, “I
wondered all weekend why in the world my wife and I were here. Now I know. We
were here to listen to you share.” If that wasn’t enough, I sold out of books
at the conference. Boy was I humbled!
What made no earthly sense to me, made perfect sense to the Father.
Jeff was right; God had placed specific individuals at that conference “for
such a time as this.” You’d think by now that I would have learned to obey
without question (what every parent desires of their kids), but unfortunately, I
am still stubborn and question God when I shouldn’t.
How about you? Has God ever asked you to do something that
made no sense at the time, but later it all became clear? If so, please share with us.
Labels: Inspirational
