The Dithering of a District Diva

This is Our Almond Branch Season!

Today on Twitter I confessed that I have been in a foul mood for the past two months. I’ve been angry, irritable, and inexplicably discontent. I’ve literally woken up day after day week after week and uttered the words, “I hate my life.” Nothing has changed over the past two months that would lead me to dare make such a drastic statement; my career is on track, I’m fulfilled financially, I am working a life plan and ministering through this blog.  But I have been an emotional, unhappy wreck, for no good reason at all. But the one thing I realized today, the one thing that had been missing, was going to my church. I have not set foot in my church in two months.

Last night, my friend who attends my church texted that we should go to the same service tomorrow and do brunch afterward, like we had done in the past. It was just the motivation I needed to get up and go — finally I had someone to be accountable to. Finally, someone would notice if I wasn’t there. So, I got up this morning, got dressed, walked out the door to the train station, and then realized I hadn’t heard from her today. In the train station, I checked my texts to see she had sent me a message HOURS AGO saying she wasn’t feeling well and wasn’t going to be able to make it.  I wasn’t feeling well either, and surely had I gotten that text message before I got up, I would’ve rolled right over and slept the day away. This, fellow Ditherers, is what we call BAMBOOZLED.  Yes, God played the mess out of me this morning.

And how I love Him for it! The message that was preached this morning was so on time and I am compelled to pass it on.

Grace Covenant’s Executive Pastor Jim Critcher explained to us the significance of the year 2011.I don’t know about your church, but many churches like to have New Year’s Slogans: We’re Gonna Win in 2010! I’m Getting What’s Mine in 2009! Things’ll Be Great in 2008! and so on and so forth.  But Pastor Critcher broke down for us what the number 11 means — and it aint pretty:

Ten is the number of divine order (the number 7, God’s perfect number, because that’s how many days He used to create the world and rest, plus the number 3, the number of the Holy Trinity of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, equals 10).  The number 12 is the number of divine government (12 tribes of Israel named in the Old Testament, the 12 disciples of Jesus in the New Testament, and many more). Yet, what happens when you add one or subtract one from those divine numbers?  In Matthew 20:6, Jesus is telling the story of a vineyard owner who needed workers for his fields and went out at the 11th hour and found a bunch of lazy people sitting around idly doing nothing, and he asks them “Why are you standing around all day doing nothing?”  Likewise, there were 12 disciples following Christ, but then Judas betrayed Christ and order was lost, the disciples scattered as Jesus was murdered, fearing they’d be next, forgetting all Christ taught them about how this story would really end. That’s because 11 means disorder, disorganization, imperfection, and disintegration. So, what does that mean for 2011??

As Pastor Critcher reminded us:

Many times what we see, God is doing the exact opposite. We’re going to see a contrary wind about to blow and God will bring into divine order all that we’ve heard and believed, and that which we have not even yet seen or heard.

We’re trying to figure out what God’s plan is for us. Yet, [like in algebra] the longer we walk with God, the more variables get stuck in the equation. And we’re ready to give up. There are no numbers, no dates, no figures [that we can see or understand so]…We give up. We forget that the walk of faith is always going to have some variables in there.  [But one thing I have to remember is that] God has never dealt with me on the basis of what I could understand in any given moment. If the way you’re going to be led by God doesn’t allow for variables in your equation, you’re never going to grow up.  Simple math, the 1+1 , you should’ve been done with that by the time you got out of 1st grade.  As we get older, we learn to function with more variables. And yet many times we limit the blessings and promises of God because we only take hold of that which is apparent to us right there in front of us. We believe what we understand, what we think we can get our arms around. [But 2011,] this is an important season — not as an ultimate fulfillment but as 1) encouragement; and 2) further preparation for full harvest and delivery.

We then read Jeremiah 1 and see God calling His prophet Jeremiah to do a work for Him:

The word of the LORD came to me, saying,

⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

This is God telling Jeremiah, “I have a plan and a purpose for your life that I designed even before I formed you in your mother’s womb!” How amazing is that! “I’ve called you to this specific task…here it is…” But, like Jeremiah, what’s the first thing we say when God tells us that?!  “BUT GOD…I’m just a kid! I don’t speak well! I’m too shy! I’m nervous in crowds! I can’t, I can’t, I can’t!”

Alas, Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.” (Jeremiah 1:6)

Didn’t God just say before He formed you in the womb He knew you?! Don’t you think God knows what our limitations are? We don’t have to tell Him, that’s the reason why He chose us!  Just like Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:

⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

That’s how people will come to know God and be drawn to Him, because they see the transformation He has made in our lives! They know we stutter, they know we’re shy, they know we can’t speak well, or our voices get squeaky when we’re excited! So when we are empowered to do these wonderful things in spite of ourselves, 1) Others know it must be God; and 2) WE  know it has to be God, and we will humble ourselves before Him, and give praise where praise is due.

God enables us to do the work He created us to do, just like He enabled Jeremiah in verse 9:

⁹ Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put MY words in your mouth. ¹⁰ See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” [emphasis added]

We have to remember that it is not about us! We do not get the word of God on Sunday to build ourselves up and to feel great about ourselves. We get full so that we can share that message with other people. (Pastor Donnell calls that “eating for two”!) And the work that God has called us to do, yes we benefit from that, but the work is done to fulfill GOD’S PLAN, not our own. It is HIS WORD, not our own version of His word.

The next thing we see in Jeremiah is God giving Jeremiah his first prophetic vision.

¹¹ The word of the LORD came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

“I see the branch of an almond tree,” I replied.

¹² The LORD said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.”

As Pastor Critcher pointed out:

The almond branch has a lot of Biblical symbolism. It was used for a sign of God’s divine choosing. In Numbers 17, we see Moses speaking to the leaders of the 12 tribes of Israel, [and they were fighting over who should be the leader with Moses. God told Moses to take 12 almond branches and write the names of the 12 leaders on it, and the one that buds and bears almonds was the leader God chose. But there is even more symbolism with the almond branch. God is not only confirming for Jeremiah that he has indeed been called by God to be a leader, but also,] in the Old Testament, the almond branch is a symbol of watchfulness. When the almond began to bud, it was a sign of Spring. Everything would bud after the almond tree, it was a sign that the rest of harvest was getting ready to come behind it.

God said to Jeremiah, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching over my word to see that it is fulfilled.” That means that God is a promise-keeper! He says in Isaiah 55: 10-11:

¹⁰ As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
¹¹ so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. [emphasis added]

Pastor Critcher asked us:

What do you see? What are you seeing? Jeremiah passes the test and He gets commended “You have seen well.” Are you seeing well this morning? Are you seeing what God sees?

God is bringing us into an almond branch season. He has chosen [this year as one of] prerequisite miracles and fulfillment. God sees and wants us to primarily know that. He sees what we see, but also we must see what He sees. If we don’t believe God is seeing us, we’re left to become deists. We’re left believing there is a God, but we don’t think God sees me where I live. He is a removed God that is not compassionate. It’s important that we see what God sees because that’s the only way we’ll get perspective on anything, our life, our relationships, the nation…right now we’re seeing one-dimensionally,but we need the full wisdom and counsel of God. God has to enable us to see properly.

If we’re not convinced God is seeing all this, it makes us slow to repent and it creates for us the idea that God is detached. [But as God says in] Exodus 3: “I’ve seen and I’ve heard, I am concerned. I have come down to rescue, to bring out, and bring into.” Too many of us are satisfied with the first one. Yay! We’re saved. But, it’s one thing to be rescued; it’s one thing for someone to throw us a life preserver and say “good luck!” and it’s another thing to pull us to safety.  And it’s even another thing for God to bring us into something better.  He said “I’m going to bring you into a good and a spacious land.”  He sees. He’s compassionate. He has a plan. He has a word for us…When God spoke, that word was powerful enough to do what it said. It was all-sufficient.  In His word is the power to accomplish itself, with or without my help, your help, my faith, your faith! God’s word is bigger! Isaiah 55 says  “My word that goes from my mouth shall not return to me empty.”  It doesn’t talk about you! It says God’s word will not return empty. “It shall accomplish that which I purpose and will succeed in what I sent it.” And we need to use this word the way God intended, not confuse it to bring forth our own purposes.

That is what is beautiful in the chaos in our lives! GOD HAS A PLAN. No, I don’t feel right, no, I can’t put my finger on why, yes, everything is out of order, but this is a time to let go and allow God to restore order in our lives. 2011 is the year to watch God fulfill what He said He was going to fulfill!

My favorite scripture is Jeremiah 29:11 “‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ says the Lord. “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future. But He continues in verse 13:

“¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

If we want to get back on track, if we want that order restored in our lives, God says when you get for real about this thing, when you “seek Me with all of your heart, when you want me more than you want anyone else — this man, that car, this job, that house — you will find Me, and I will bring you out of the chaos I banished you to when you were disobedient, when you weren’t living right, when you were doing your own thing and living life your own way. I will bring you back, I will restore you,” God says! And His word NEVER returns to Him void. We have to believe the promises of God — not pretending, not faking it til we make it — we’ve got to believe what God has promised us. And if we look back on our lives, we will see so many times that God has been true to us. Whatever He promised us, He has delivered.

As we forge into 2011, let’s commit ourselves to seeing what God sees: the beauty in chaos. This foolishness happening in our lives –whether we’ve brought it upon ourselves or not — God has a purpose and a plan in it and through it. Let’s be obedient to the word of God (first by reading it, and then by putting it into action). And then let’s sit back and watch as God “brings us back,” and restores us like He said He would. As Pastor Critcher said today, let’s go into our “Almond Season”!

Comments

comments