What are we pulling toward ourselves?

As I was sitting in ministry staff meeting today the Holy Spirit struck me with something (He does that sometimes 😄) that I very much needed to hear...

"Sometimes God will give us what we are begging Him for, even if it is not what we are supposed to have.  Just as He gave the children of Israel the King they were begging Him for.  Maybe the thing we are begging for is down the road - we know that was the case with the Israelites, but we aren't supposed to have it yet.  If that happens (if He gives us what we are begging for) we will be "settling" for something less than perfect for us.  Are we (am I) demanding a king, when God is trying to be just that for us - our King?  Don't pull toward yourself something He doesn't have for you right now.  Settle in where He has you and be content.  Grace and favor come from - are found in - that place."

While on this quest, this determined walk to pursue God's plan, purpose and call on our lives we can sometimes get so focused on the goal, that we can forget that it is not our timing in which things happen - but His.  I sometimes lose sight of this.  Today I needed refocus - actually, its been over the course of about a week that I've lost focus.  I'm so thankful that He knows I'm going to do this from time to time, and that He extends grace to me by giving gentle reminders.

His plans are good ones; the race He has put me in is worth the run.  All that is required of me is obedience.  I'm only supposed to take the steps He gives me to take.  Often times those steps look NOTHING like we think they are supposed to look in order to fulfill His call, and often times obedience means not moving if you haven't been clearly directed to do so.  His ways and thoughts look NOTHING like ours.  Our job is to trust and obey.  There is an old hymn with that title; one of the verses of that old hymn says this:

But we never can prove
The delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay
For the favor He shows
For the joy He bestows
Are for them who will trust and obey

Trust and obey
For there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus
But to trust and obey

For quite some time now the Lord has been telling me, "Trust Me.  I know what I'm doing."  I'll do that.  It's the best plan there is.

Lord, may I lay everything on the alter before You.  Especially all the ways I think I can help you with Your plans for me.  Help me to trust that you know exactly what you are doing.  Help me to obey your voice, and only take the steps you give me to take.  I pray I wouldn't pull things toward me that aren't in your plan, and that I would ever turn my face towards you.  In Jesus name...

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up (pride, calling our own shots, etc). And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.  We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Hebrews 12: 1 & 2