Except the LORD
build the house, they labour in vain that build it – psalm 127:1
We heard a sermon yesterday about how the devil puts question marks where God has put periods. He emphasized how Satan tried it with Eve in the garden: “Yea, hath God said…?” When I heard that I thought, He just tried that on us last week! Just a few days from when we took our stand in faith, the serpent came slithering in with two tempting sibling groups and asked, “hath God really said under school age?” Both groups had children over the age limit. We didn’t have peace about either one. But, they were there…and available…and we struggled. But, by God’s grace we were able to lean on His truth and resist what we ultimately saw as temptation. In His strength, we stood firm, “God hath said under school age. Period.
And hardly 3 days later…we received a phone call from our
caseworker (yes, this has been the most activity we have seen during our whole
16 months of waiting) reporting that she had heard from the caseworker of one
of the groups we had rejected last week (the third temptation in 5 days). She
said the caseworker announced that we had been selected (as 1 of 3 candidates)
for that sibling group (ages 3, 4, 5……and 10).
Our caseworker reminded her that we were no longer interested (because
of the age breech we discussed last week) and the caseworker insisted, “please,
won’t you participate in the selection meeting on Wednesday? We are very interested in your family for this
group.” So, our caseworker called us to
see where we stood.
We have been selected? They are very interested in us? The
opportunity we shakily turned down last week was suddenly a little more
appealing. The stakes had been raised.
We had been moved even closer to the prize. Tantalized by the lust of the flesh, like Eve
fondling a ripened fruit, we wavered.
And the question marks rolled….. “Is God opening a door that we tried to
close? Is He trying to tell us we’re not on the right path? Is this His will for us? Did He really mean under school age? Yea,
hath God said…?”
A song we sing in our Bible Study class played in my mind as
I knelt down to beg for clarity and peace:
Fret not, He’s watching over you
Fret not, His love will see you through
Fret not, He’ll help you pass the
testFret not, His love will see you through
Commit and trust…delight and rest.
That’s what was missing….rest. We had no peace. Only questions and doubts. Knowing God is not the author of confusion;
he ultimately revealed impatience, faithlessness, and fear at the root of these
questions. I know God is teaching me to
find peace in His periods. Wait on the Lord…period. Delight in the Lord…period.
Rest in the Lord…period. My nature is
unstable, but His commands are absolute.
I am learning now to turn to
those commands in the face of doubt. The
Lord is always faithful and, once again, He helped us pass the test. He provided the strength for us to face our
fear (that we will accidently miss God’s will) and guided us by the hand as we walked
away (again) from a very tempting opportunity. So, we carry on down this narrow path….a
little stronger, and yet so aware of our dependency on God’s merciful hand. Our heart is strengthened and we are determined
to trust that the Lord will be faithful in what He has called us to. We know
that God is faithful. Period. He has
called us to adoption. Period. He will build
our house. Period.
“Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” – 1 Thessalonians
5:24
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