There's Just Something About Mystery

Plans and purposes can really seem like a mystery most times. Not plans we make ourselves, though sometimes our own motives aren't entirely clear.  But I mean the plans and purposes God has for our lives.  It's always easier as an outsider to see into someone else's situation and see what's going on, how it's working towards something, it's moving in a certain direction; what God is doing. It makes sense...when something is too close to your face you can't see it well unless you step back and let it come into focus.  Sometimes we're just too close to our self in our process that it becomes a great mystery as to what is actually happening while it's happening. As they say, hind sight is 20/20. But I believe foresight can be more clear than it actually is.

Last month, a young man from our youth ministry (MergeAhead.com) collaborated with some friends to buy one of our young ladies a car. Many contributed what they could to the gift! It was the coolest act of extravagant giving to see! He took the time to find the car, test it out, get it tuned up and ready to be presented.  She had no idea what awaited her that Sunday night. But, we all knew and eagerly awaited the moment it was revealed.  I wonder if she was yearning and maybe even stressing about a car at this time?   Over many many months past, I'd become privy that the pursuer of my best friend was planning to propose! He'd make plans and check in with me from time to time about it. It was all really exciting! The thing is, my friend had no idea. As time passed, and communication between the two of them became difficult due to a season he was overseas, it became clear to me that my friends heart was strained.  Oh it was so hard for me to listen and not be able to comfort her with the truth of what I knew first hand.  But, I refused to tell her anything that would ruin the surprise! It was an epic surprise, one worth concealing until the right time. The same was true about the car story. None of us wanted to ruin the tremendous moment ahead! And then, something hit me like lightning!  God is at work preparing things for us right now. We have moments where we cry out to God and feel like he's far off...but really he's busy preparing. And oh, what a marvelous surprise he is preparing for us! In fact, no eye has seen and no ear has heard what God is preparing for us...it's that original; it's that good!  It hit me that it's the romantic nature of God to conceal things from us until the proper time. He delights in surprising us and blessing us with our hearts desires. It must grieve his heart to watch us sweat; to watch us cry out and feel like we can't take it anymore. Funny thing is, it's always darkest before the dawn, and always tightest before payday!  But, God loves us too much to ruin the surprise! The moment of revelation is on it's way and it will be WAY better than a temporal soothing of our anxious hearts by a word out of season or a heads up of what's to come.  Besides, knowing in advance can have difficulties too! We'd waste away our days of present to get to the 'surprise' and miss the gems each day has in store and the incredible ways we can impact and encourage our environments merely by our present presence!

I used to think that the plans and purposes of God were always far off; always a mystery.  But not the kind of mystery that was alluring. The kind of mystery that was unnerving. I had trouble conceptualizing the goodness of God for most of my life really.  Things go down. People leave. Seasons change. Life happens. I can pinpoint when all of this began to change for me though.  My dearest friend from college flipped my thinking upside down and inside out when she sat me down one time about Jeremiah 29:11 ("For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope").  I'd heard this quoted to me over and over again and it became hard to think of it as anything other than far off hope that I wasn't sure I'd ever reach! She said this plan is not something you arrive at. It's something you're already living out, because it's already in process!  Whoa! Over many years this has been blossoming in my heart. And suddenly I see mystery as a magnificent romantic gesture of a wonderful surprise being prepared for me...even now, even as I write this. And while sometimes it's really hard to have this perspective for my own life and my own circumstances - and there might not be a single friend aware of the actual details that await me - I can rest assured that behind the door I find myself standing in front of,  God is preparing a table, a special meal, and awaits a purposeful and grand unveiling of His heart towards me through the revealing of the efforts of his planning all this time!