Your Wandering Is Not In Vain (1 Corinthians 15:58b)

Sometimes Christians believe that if they know the will of God, then everything is crystal clear. Pride can misdirect. But it does not follow that all dead-ends are the result of pride. Indeed, wandering often seems to be fully in the purposes of God for our lives. Because God's goal is not ours.

We see a mountain, and we want to know how we will get over, around or under that mountain or, even whether we will avoid the mountain altogether. We don't think that perhaps that any of those alternatives might be correct, because God is not worried about the mountain, but about us and the kind of people we will be by dealing with the mountain in dependence on God. That is faith doesn't move the mountain, faith trusts that God can move the mountain even if it still remains unmoved right now.

This is certainly true in working with a church. How many times have we seen an opportunity for ministry, prayed for wisdom on how to pursue it, consulted wise friends and jumped in with 100% effort. Then it fails. So we take a deep breath, gear up again and jump in again. Failure. And again. And again. We wonder what is wrong. We double-check our motives, our prayer registry, our commitment level. All ok, but no results.

This is why Paul wrote:

Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. - 1 Corinthians 15:58b

There is a tendency to pull back in our efforts, because we think it is not working. But, in fact, it is working...on us. It is not in vain. In fact, this very keeping-on-going helps us fully understand God's love (cf. Romans 5:3-4).

 

This verse reminds me of another similar thought expressed by Paul elsewhere:

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. - Galatians 6:9

The sense is flipped, but the meaning is the same. In the first it is: do A (give yourselves fully) because you won't lose B (results of your labor). In the second it is: don't give up A (doing good) because you will gain B (harvest).

 

The wandering, not the overcoming, is producing what God wants. The very frustration, and how we rely upon God in failure, is the path God uses.

 

How I wish he would skip it sometimes! How I am tired! But faith says the result God has planned is better than the one I envision.