Living in an imperfect world worshipping a perfect God can be a bit trying on our hearts. Somehow our heart gets caught in the middle of trust in our perfect God coupled with the disappointments and trials of walking out our faith in a fallen world. The Age of Reason makes us logical--A+B=C always, we grasp for understanding in our simple human minds when things don't go as we plan or we get hurt or disappointed. Eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden doesn't help our faith because we would rather grasp for understanding of the facts and weigh what we perceive as true and not true than cry out to God for comfort and enjoy His presence (His original design!).Recently during an incredible ministry disappointment I was saddened by the fact that my trust in God seems so dependent on things ending the way I expected when I started down a road that God was leading to. When God led a completely different way at the end, it was easy to follow, but hard to comprehend. Hence, my circling over the facts only produced discouragement because there was no "logical" explanation without blame or shame. As I asked God for a picture or something to give peace, I pictured a pile of legos. As children play with legos, they build dreams from their hearts. However, that creation can come tumbling down due to: a poor design, the cat pouncing on them, a loving parent asking for them to be cleaned up because its time for the child to go to bed (rest is a need but builders don't always look after their needs!) or tearing down for the sheer desire to create something new or different. Somehow this spoke to my logical brain and released it from having to be so linear in my thinking...life is way more complex, there are multiple factors at work all the time (the world, the enemy, the flesh, the redeemed heart, and God are all players). Just because a dream comes crashing down doesn't mean its over for good. Just like kids, when the legos tumble, there is crying and a time of grief over the disappointment and loss, but they still own the legos (the building blocks of dreams), so at some point in the future, they can be brought out again---maybe with the same children or a new group, maybe a similar creation or something completely new with wisdom gained from previous creations. There is freedom in letting go of that original design, because the building blocks were not destroyed, just given opportunity to be rearranged.
Be thankful for the dreams (the building blocks), no one and no circumstance can take them from your heart. Be thankful for who God made you to be, to be the keeper of the dreams/desires from Him. Don't let logic make you cynical and give up!!! Be thankful that our God is so sovereign, so creative and so able to be multifaceted regarding our dreams. By focusing on who He is in the middle of loss gives hope that one failed attempt or even several is not the final product!! As you delight yourself in the Lord, may He give you desires in your heart---maybe determination and perseverance for old ones as He confirms, or completely new ones...either way, may strength, courage and hope by yours as you choose to trust in our PERFECT God in the midst of our imperfect world and wait on His timing!
"Trust in the Lord and do good...Delight yourself in the lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun...If the Lord delights in a man's way, he makes his footsteps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand." Psalm 37:3-6,23,24
